OUR  AIR  FORCE 


'Interior  of  the  Chart  Room  of  a  Balloon  Company,  Installed  in  a 
Temporary  Barrack.  The  Chart  Room  Contains  a  Relief  Map 
of  all  of  the  Ground  that  can  be  seen  from  the  Balloon's  Posi- 
tion, and  a  Perfect  Representation  of  the  Hills,  Woods,  Houses, 
Streams,  Railroad  Lines  and  Roads 


OUR  AIR  FORCE 

The  Keystone  of  National  Defense 


BY 

WILLIAM  MITCHELL 

BBIQADIBB  GENERAL,  Am  SERVICE 


NEW  YORK 
E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 

681  FIFTH  AVENUE 


Copyright  1921, 
By  E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved 


Printtd  in  tht  United  Statts  of  America 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED 
TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  MY   BROTHER 

Lieut.  JOHN  LENDRUM  MITCHELL,  JB. 

PILOT,  UNITED  STATES  AIR  SERVICE, 

WHO  WAS  KILLED  IN  FRANCE 

IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  HIS  COUNTRY 

ON  MAY  26,  1918 


438448 


EDITOR'S  NOTE 

BRIGADIER  GENERAL  WM.  MITCHELL,  the  author 
of  this  book,  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Volunteer 
Infantry  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain 
in  1898 ;  and  after  serving  in  the  ranks  for  twenty 
days,  he  was  made  an  officer  at  the  age  of  eigh- 
teen. He  was  the  youngest  officer  in  the  army 
during  the  Spanish  War.  He  later  served  in  the 
Philippine  Insurrection;  again  in  Cuba  in  1906 
and  1907;  and  along  the  Mexican  Border.  Gen- 
eral Mitchell  has  traveled  widely  in  Asia,  India 
and  Europe,  studying  the  military  systems  in  the 
armies  of  the  various  countries.  He  is  a  Dis- 
tinguished graduate  of  the  Army  School  of  the 
Line,  a  graduate  of  the  Army  Staff  College,  and 
he  served  as  a  member  of  our  General  Staff  be- 
fore the  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the 
World  War.  General  Mitchell  studied  Aviation 
for  a  great  many  years;  learned  to  fly  at  the 
first  opportunity,  and  has  kept  it  up  ever  since. 
He  was  the  first  American  officer  under  German 
fire  in  Europe,  where  he  was  serving  as  a  military 
observer  when  the  War  opened,  and  was  the  first 
American  flying  officer  to  cross  the  Lines  in  the 
European  War,  on  April  22,  1917,  where  he  laid 

vii 


viii  EDITOR'S  NOTE 

the  basis  for  the  tactical  Air  Service  in  Europe 
before  the  coming  of  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces.  General  Mitchell  later  commanded  the 
Air  Service  of  the  First  Army  Corps,  the  Air 
Service  of  the  First  Army,  the  Air  Service  of 
the  Group  of  Armies,  and,  when  the  Group  of 
Armies  was  discontinued,  at  the  time  of  the 
Armistice,  he  took  the  Aviation  of  the  Army  of 
Occupation  into  Germany,  and  established  it 
along  the  Rhine  Eiver.  Since  returning  to  the 
United  States,  in  the  Spring  of  1919,  General 
Mitchell  has  been  in  charge  of  the  training  and 
operations  of  our  own  Air  Service,  which  has 
been  completely  reorganized  and  re-equipped. 

General  Mitchell  was  granted  the  Distinguished 
Service  Cross,  with  citation  as  follows: 

"GENERAL  HEADQUARTERS, 

AMERICAN  EXPEDITIONARY  FORCES, 
OFFICE  OF  THE  CHIEF  OF  AIR  SERVICE 
M.M.P. 
A.S. 

France,  7  November  1918. 

From:     Chief  of  Air  Service,  A.E.F. 

To:          Brigadier    General    William    Mitchell, 

A.S.JJ.S.A. 
Subject:  Award  of  Distinguished  Service  Cross. 

1.  The  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  American 
Expeditionary  Forces  in  the  name  of  the  Presi- 


EDITOR'S  NOTE  ix 

dent  has  awarded  you  the  Distinguished  Service 
Cross  for  extraordinary  heroism  in  action,  the 
official  citation  being  as  follows: — 

"For  repeated  acts  of  extraordinary  hero- 
ism in  action  at  Noyon,  France,  26  March 
1918,  near  the  Marne  Eiver,  France  during 
July  1918,  and  in  the  St.  Mihiel  Salient, 
France,  12-16  September  1918. 

For  displaying  bravery  far  beyond  that  re- 
quired by  his  position  as  Chief  of  Air  Service, 
1st  Army,  American  Expeditionary  Forces, 
setting  a  personal  example  to  the  U.S.  Avia- 
tion by  piloting  his  airplane  over  the  battle 
lines  since  the  entry  of  the  United  States 
into  the  war.  Some  instances  being  a  flight 
in  a  monoplane  over  the  battle  of  Noyon  on 
March  26,  1918  and  the  back  areas,  seeing 
and  reporting  upon  the  action  of  both  air  and 
ground  troops,  which  led  to  a  change  in^  our 
aviation's  tactical  methods.  A  flight  in  a 
monoplane  over  the  bridges  which  the  Ger- 
mans had  laid  across  the  Marne  during  July 
1918,  which  led  to  the  first  definite  reports 
•of  the  location  of  these  bridges  and  the  sub- 
sequent attack  upon  the  German  troops  by 
our  air  forces.  Daily  reconnaissances  over  the 
lines  during  the  battle  of  St.  Mihiel  salient, 
September  12th  to  16th,  securing  valuable 
information  of  the  enemy  troops  in  the  air 
and  on  the  ground,  which  led  to  the  excellent 
combined  action  by  the  allied  air  services  and 
ground  troops  particularly  in  this  battle." 

2.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  handing  you  this 
decoration,  so  well  deserved,  and  wish  to  add  my 


x  EDITOR'S  NOTE 

own  sincere  thanks  for  the  magnificent  work  you 
are  doing  and  my  heartfelt  congratulations  on  the 
record  you  have  made. 

MASON  M.  PATRICK, 
Major  General,  U.S.A." 

He  was  awarded  the  Distinguished  Service 
Medal,  with  citation  as  follows: 

"GENERAL  HEADQUARTERS, 

AMERICAN  EXPEDITIONARY  FORCES, 

PERSONNEL  DIVISION 

DECORATION  SECTION 
By  Courier. 

France,  27  May  1919. 

From:     The  Adjutant  General,  American  E.  F. 
To:          Brigadier     General    William    Mitchell, 
U.S.A.     (Thru  The  Adjutant  Gen- 
eral of  the  Army.) 

Subject:  Distinguished  Service  Medal. 

1.  Under  the  provisions  of  Cablegram  No.  2830, 
received  from  the  War  Department,  March  1st, 
1919,  the  Commander-in-Chief ,  in  the  name  of  the 
President,  has  awarded  the  Distinguished  Service 
Medal  to  you  for  exceptionally  meritorious  and 
distinguished  services  as  set  forth  below: 

BRIGADIER  GENERAL  WILLIAM  MITCHELL  U.  S.  A. 

For  exceptionally  meritorious  and  distin- 
guished services. 

As  Air  Service  Commander,  first  of  the 
Zone  of  Advance  and  later  of  the  First  Corps, 


EDITOR'S  NOTE  xi 

by  his  tireless  energy  and  keen  perception, 
he  performed  duties  of  great  importance  with 
marked  ability.  Subsequently  as  Commander, 
Air  Service  of  the  First  Army,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, after  formation  of  the  Second  Army  as 
Commander  of  Air  Services  of  both  armies, 
by  his  able  direction  of  these  vitally  impor- 
tant services  he  proved  to  be  a  potent  factor 
in  the  successes  achieved  during  the  opera- 
tions of  the  American  Armies. 

2.  You  will  be  informed  later  in  regard  to  the 
time   and   place   of   presentation   of  the   Medal 
awarded  you. 
By  command  of  General  Pershing: 

(Signed)  F.  C.  WHITLBT, 
Adjutant  General/' 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Battle  of  St.  Mihiel, 
General  Pershing  wrote  the  following  letter,  which 
expressed  his  views  of  the  handling  of  American 
Aviation  in  that  contest : 

"AMERICAN  EXPEDITIONARY  FORCES, 

OFFICE  OF  THE  COMMANDEK-IN-CHIEF, 
FBANCE,  SEPTEMBEE  16,  1918. 

COLONEL  WILLIAM  MITCHELL, 
Chief  of  Air  Service, 
First  Army,  A.E.F., 
France. 

MY  DEAB  COLONEL: 

Please  accept  my  sincere  congratulations  on  the 
successful  and  very  important  part  taken  by  the 


xii  EDITOR'S  NOTE 

Air  forces  under  your  command  in  the  first 
offensive  of  the  First  American  Army.  The 
organization  and  control  of  the  tremendous  con- 
centration of  Air  forces,  including  American, 
French,  British  and  Italian  units,  which  has  en- 
abled the  Air  Service  of  the  First  Army  to  carry 
out  so  successfully  its  dangerous  and  important 
mission,  is  as  fine  a  tribute  to  you  personally  as 
is  the  courage  and  nerve  shown  by  your  officers 
a  signal  proof  of  the  high  morale  which  permeates 
the  service  under  your  command. 

Please  convey  to  your  command  my  heartfelt 
appreciation  of  their  work.    I  am  proud  of  you  all. 
Sincerely  yours, 

JOHN  J.  PEBSHING." 

Besides  the  American  decorations,  General 
Mitchell  has  been  decorated  by  the  French,  with 
the  grade  of  Commander  of  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
and  War  Cross  with  various  citations;  by  the 
British,  the  Order  of  St.  Michael  and  St.  George. 

General  Mitchell  handled  the  largest  concen- 
tration of  Air  Forces,  during  the  European  War, 
that  have  ever  been  assembled  under  one  com- 
mand, consisting  of  American,  British,  French 
and  Italian  Units ;  and  is  therefore  an  authority 
on  the  application  and  use  of  an  Air  Force.  He 
is  the  only  high-ranking  flying  officer  in  this 
country  who  actually  has  handled  large  forces  of 
Aviation  against  an  enemy. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB 

I.    DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  IN  THE  WOULD 

WAR     .........  1 

II.    CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AIR  POWER  ...  12 

III.  THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIR  POWER        .      .  20 

IV.  BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  AND  THEIR  USB 

IN  WAR       ........  32 

V.    PURSUIT  AVIATION       ......  46 

VI.    BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  .....  55 

VII.    ATTACK  AVIATION        ......  69 

VIII.    OBSERVATION  AVIATION     .....  76 

IX.    BALLOONS  .........  87 

X.    AIRSHIPS    .........  95 

XI.    FLYING  PERSONNEL      ......  110 

XII.    OBTAINING  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL  130 

XIII.  CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION       .      .  143 

XIV.  AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA    .....  159 

XV.    How   WE   SHOULD    HANDLE   OUR   AERO- 

NAUTICAL DEVELOPMENT    ....  180 

XVI.  WHAT   THE    UNITED   STATES  SHOULD  Do 

Now  TO  ESTABLISH  ITS  AERONAUTICAL 

POSITION    ........  199 

XVII.  A  GLANCE  INTO  THE  FUTURE  OF  AERO- 

NAUTICS     ........  217 

jriii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Interior  of  the  Chart  Room  of  a  Balloon  Company. . .  .Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

German  Airship  of  the  Zeppelin  Type 4 

The  British  Airship  E-34 4 

American  Single  Engine  Attack  Airplane 12 

Type  of  American  Attack  Airplane 12 

Captured  German  Airplanes  Exhibited  on  the  Place  de  Con- 
corde  in  Paris 20 

Airdrome  with  Temporary  Hangars  on  the  "Mexican  Border. .  28 

A  Squadron  of  the  First  Surveillance  Group  on  the  Border. .  28 
One  of  the  Squadrons  of  the  American  First  Pursuit  Group 

on  the  Texas  Border 36 

500  and  1000-Pound  Airplane  Bombs 44 

The   First  American  Pursuit  Machine  Built  by  the  Curtiss 

Company  in  1915 52 

A  United  States  Pursuit  Airplane 52 

The  United  States  First  Bombardment  Group 56 

A  Bombardment  Practice  Formation 60 

An  American  Observation  Balloon  of  the  Caquot  or  French 

Type    76 

View  of  a  Fort  from  the  Air 84 

American  Air  Officer  Jumping  out  of  an  Airplane 88 

Diagram  Illustrating  Method  of  Protecting  Large  Cities  by 

Barrage  Balloons 92 

Sixteen-Inch  Gun  Used  by  the  French  in  Their  Great  Attack 

of  April,  1917 96 

xv 


xvi  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACING  PAGE 

A  Formation  of  Three  United  States  Army  Non-Rigid  Train- 
ing Airships 100 

United  States  Army  Airship  Hangar 108 

German  Airship  Station 108 

Officers  of  the  94th  Pursuit  Squadron,  First  Pursuit  Group, 

at  Rembcourt,   France 116 

The  Author  and  His  Staff  on  the  Banks  of  the  Rhine 120 

American  K-l  Camera,  developed  by  the  American  Air  Service  124 

The  Crash  of  a  Heavy  Bombardment  Airplane 132 

Colombey  les  Belles  Air  Depot  in  France 140 

American  Ambulance  Airplane 148 

Italian  Caproni  Passenger  Airplane 148 

Curtiss  Speed  Airplane,  1920 156 

Dayton  Wright  Speed  Airplane 156 

German  All-Metal  Seaplane 164 

American  Light  Weight  Bombardment  Airplane 164 

German  All-Metal  Flying  Boat  Equipped  for  Passenger  Traffic  172 

Thomas  Morse  Pursuit  Airplane 180 

Airplane  Equipped  with  Air  Bags 180 

One  Squadron  of  the  First  Bombardment  Group 188 

An  American  Heavy  Weight  Bombardment  Airplane 196 

A  Group  of  American  Airdromes  Near  Mineola,  Long  Island  204 

Shipping  Anchored  in  the  James  River 212 

One  of  Our  American  Ship-Yards 212 

Langley  Field,  Virginia  220 


FOREWORD 

THE  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  bring  before 
the  American  people  an  idea  of  what  an  efficient 
organization  of  our  aeronautical  resources  means 
to  the  country,  how  it  can  be  brought  about,  and 
what  we  already  have  for  doing  it.  Suitable  and 
adequate  preparation  of  the  air  arm,  and  of  the 
personnel  required  to  man  the  aircraft,  manu- 
facture the  equipment,  and  supply  such  a  force, 
cannot  be  furnished  by  the  Army  or  Navy,  or 
by  the  two  combined,  as  has  been  the  experience 
in  all  countries  in  the  recent  War.  In  order  that 
an  air  force  may  be  developed  to  the  point  where 
it  will  represent  a  real  safeguard,  it  is  necessary 
that  an  organization  be  formed  whose  main  func- 
tion will  be  the  employment  of  aircraft  in  all  their 
various  fields  of  activity.  The  importance  of  this 
function  of  the  Government  is  so  great,  and  the 
interested  industries  are  so  large  in  number,  that 
the  governmental  organization  for  the  develop- 
ment, control  and  employment  of  aircraft  in  their 
many  phases,  both  in  time  of  peace  as  well  as  in 
time  of  war,  absolutely  requires  the  formation 
of  an  executive  department  of  the  Government, 

xvii 


xviii  FOREWORD 

which  should  be  known  as  the  Department  of 
Aeronautics. 

The  aeronautical  demands  of  the  late  War  have 
so  hastened  the  development  and  use  of  aircraft 
of  all  sorts,  that  all  nations  now  regard  them  as 
indispensable  adjuncts  of  their  national  defense. 
Although  the  United  States  was  the  first  nation 
to  demonstrate  the  practicability  of  heavier-than- 
air  flight,  we  allowed  ourselves  to  become  so  de- 
ficient in  the  development  of  this  science,  that  we 
were  hopelessly  behind  when  the  war  in  Europe 
started.  Had  we  not  had  the  bulwark  of  the 
European  Allies  to  work  behind  during  the  great 
"War,  we  would  have  had  practically  no  aviation 
on  the  front. 

Again  we  find  ourselves  largely  going  back- 
ward, instead  of  f  orward ;  and  instead  of  utilizing 
and  putting  into  effect  the  aeronautical  lessons  of 
the  European  War,  we  have  allowed  the  more 
than  15,000  flying  officers  that  were  trained  dur- 
ing that  great  contest  to  go  back  to  their  civil 
vocations  without  any  serious  attempt  to  organize 
them,  and  perpetuate  their  knowledge  of  aero- 
nautics as  a  national  asset,  or  to  organize  them 
as  a  reserve  force  to  be  used  in  any  emergency 
which  may  come  in  the  future.  A  paltry  1,000 
flying  officers  have  been  retained  in  all  the  na- 
tional services,  and  the  places  in  the  national 


FOREWORD  xix 

flying  forces  that  should  belong  to  the  flying 
officers,  who  learned  their  work  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  are  gradually  being  taken  over  by  officers 
of  superior  rank  put  into  the  air  forces  from 
other  branches  of  the  army,  such  as  the  Infantry, 
Cavalry,  and  Field  Artillery,  and  from  the  Navy, 
who  know  nothing  to  start  with  about  aviation, 
and  who  will  never  be  capable  of  learning  it  in 
the  same  way  as  those  who  have  served  during 
the  War.  The  trained  flying  personnel  which  this 
country  produced  during  the  War  was  the  greatest 
aeronautical  accomplishment  brought  about. 

The  air  is  a  common  medium  all  over  the  world. 

is  bounded  by  no  oceans,  mountains,  rivers  or 
deserts.  The  aircraft  operate  in  three  dimensions 
up  to  more  than  30,000  feet  at  the  present  time. 
This  altitude  is  being  constantly  increased.  No 
navies  can  operate  on  the  seas,  nor  armies  on  the 
land,  until  the  air  forces  have  first  attained  a 
decision  against  the  opposing  air  forces,  so  as  to 
allow  those  on  the  water  to  operate  against  their 
enemy.  Therefore,  as  a  prelude  to  any  engage- 
ment of  military  or  naval  forces,  a^  contest  must 
take  place  for  control  of  the  air.  £he  first  battles 
of  any  future  war  will  be  air  battles.  The  nation 
winning  them  is  practically  certain  to  win  the 

iole  war,  because  the  victorious  air  service  will 
be  able  to  operate  and  increase  without  hindrance. 


xx  FOREWORD 

Under  these  conditions,  it  is  essential  that  a  na- 
tion's air  resources  be  so  organized  that  they 
can  be  mobilized  and  put  into  fighting  condition 
immediately  that  war  appears  imminent,  to  take 
the  air  and  protect  the  country  in  the  way  that  it 
deserves. 

Navigation  of  the  air  is  increasing  more  rapidly 
in  its  efficiency  and  use  since  the  Armistice  than 
it  did  even  during  the  War.  North  America  is  the 
central  point,  or  meeting  place,  of  all  aerial  com- 
munication between  Europe  and  Asia.  The  Euro- 
peans have  splendidly  organized  air  services. 
Japan  is  now  putting  her  air  forces  in  a  class 
with  her  army  and  navy.  Air  forces  are  more 
difficult  to  organize  and  put  on  a  sound  footing 
than  either  an  army  or  navy,  because  in  this 
newest  arm  we  have  no  traditions  upon  which  to 
build  except  those  developed  during  the  War.  The 
whole  system  for  their  operation,  the  effect  which 
they  can  produce,  their  method  of  supply,  their 
spirit  and  their  characteristics  are  known  only  to 
the  personnel  that  constituted  the  air  forces,  and 
a  few  students  of  aeronautics. 

Our  aviation  in  the  United  States  is  split  up 
between  several  Government  agencies,  such  as  the 
Army,  the  Navy,  the  Post  Office  Department, 
Coast  Guard,  Marine  Corps,  and  Department  of 
Agriculture;  and,  in  addition,  all  other  depart- 


FOREWORD  Ed 

ments  of  the  Government  will  need  aviation  in 
some  phases  of  their  work.  It  is  a  matter  of  com- 
mon knowledge  that  whenever  an  organization  is 
made  up  of  two  or  more  parts,  each  part  must 
be  smaller  and  less  important  than  the  whole. 
This  axiom  applies  particularly  to  military  and 
naval  organizations,  which  should  be  so  propor- 
tioned as  to  obtain  the  maximum  efficiency  from 
the  entire  organization.  Neither  the  Army  nor 
the  Navy,  nor  both  combined,  can  be  expected  to 
develop,  organize  and  perfect  a  flying  corps,  and 
its  employment,  to  the  greatest  possible  limit  of 
which  that  weapon  is  capable.  Considered  simply 
as  a  military  proposition,  a  very  conservative 
estimate  of  its  capabilities  ten  years  from  now 
is  such  that  it  can  be  definitely  stated  that,  in  case 
of  war  in  which  the  United  States  is  engaged,  if 
the  enemy  obtains  mastery  of  the  air,  he  will  be 
able  to  dictate  his  own  terms  of  peace  at  any 
place  within  the  United  States  that  he  may  desire. 
Warfare  to-day  between  first-class  powers  in- 
cludes all  of  the  people  of  the  nations  so  engaged 
— men,  women  and  children.  This  inclusion  of 
women  and  children  is  not  merely  a  sentimental 
and  economic  one,  but  during  the  last  war  was 
an  actual  one  from  a  military  standpoint.  Women 
and  children  actually  were  part  of  the  military 
and  naval  forces  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and 


xxii  FOREWORD 

this  inclusion  did  not  stop  short  of  the  actual 
firing  line.  The  entire  nations  were  combatant 
forces.  We  must  expect,  therefore,  in  case  of 
war,  to  have  the  enemy  attempt  to  destroy  any 
or  all  of  our  combatant  or  industrial  forces — his 
attacks  being  entirely  controlled  by  the  dictates 
of  strategy,  and  the  means  of  bringing  the  war 
to  a  quick  conclusion.  It  may  be  at  times  the 
best  strategy  to  damage  and  destroy  property, 
and  to  kill  and  disable  an  enemy's  forces  and  re- 
sources at  points  far  removed  from  the  field  of 
battle  of  either  armies  or  navies.  The  forces  that 
are  attacked  may  be  composed  largely  of  women 
and  children  and  other  members  of  the  nation's 
industrial  and  economic  armies  not  capable  of 
bearing  arms,  but  extremely  important  as  manu- 
facturers of  ammunition,  and  the  many  other 
necessities  that  are  equally  as  important  as  carry- 
ing rifles  in  the  trenches^  A  determined  enemy, 
in  the  future,  that  gains  control  of  the  air  will 
use  every  means  to  subjugate  the  hostile  coun- 
tries. The  use  of  chemical  weapons  is  increasing 
daily.  Fortunately,  in  Europe  airplanes  did  not 
drop  gas  shells  during  the  War.  This  cannot  be 
expected  to  be,  the  case  in  the  future  when  at  war 
with  a  barbarous  foe,  who  will  use  every  means 
known  to  further  his  end.  The  personnel  of  entire 


FOREWORD 


xxin 


cities — men,   women    and   children — can   be    de- 
stroyed by  gas  attacks  from  the  air. 

During  the  War  in  Europe,  we  had  a  daily 
example  of  what  explosive  airplane  bombs  were 
capable  of  doing.  It  is  always  difficult  to  make 
people  believe  what  terrific  effect  these  aircraft 
projectiles  have.  An  excellent  example  of  what 
could  be  expected  from  an  air  attack  occurred  on 
September  16th,  1920,  when  the  explosion  occurred 
in  front  of  J.  P.  Morgan  and  Company,  in  New 
York's  financial  district.  The  building  of  the 
J.  P.  Morgan  Company  was  wrecked;  buildings 
in  the  vicinity  were  shattered ;  thirty  people  were 
killed,  five  missing,  and  about  three  hundred  in- 
jured. The  Stock  Exchange  was  closed  to  busi- 
ness; communicating  and  transportation  systems 
running  through  that  part  of  the  city  were  put 
completely  out  of  order;  the  excitement  of  the 
people  affected  the  whole  city.  In  other  words, 
the  heart  of  the  financial  center  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere  was  paralyzed  for  a  time.  This 
was  the  result  of  a  single  explosion.  4  Imagine 
what  a  group  of  100  airplanes  would  do,  that 
carry  five  bombs  apiece,  each  projectile  being 
much  more  efficient  in  its  destructive  effect  than 
the  explosives  that  were  used  on  September  16th. 
In  case  of  the  attack  of  a  group  of  such  airplanes 
or  airships,  500  explosions  would  occur,  covering 


xxiv  FOREWORD 

the  whole  of  the  lower  part  of  New  York,  which 
would  practically  wreck  that  entire  part  of  the 
city;  and  not  only  paralyze  all  the  business,  but 
would  cause  a  conflagration  such  as  has  never 
been  known  before.  Such  a  fire  occurring  in  New 
York,  situated  on  a  narrow  peninsula  between  two 
rivers  would  make  it  impossible  for  the  population 
to  get  away  from  it  on  account  of  the  congestion  of 
the  means  of  transportation  that  would  result  when 
this  great  population  attempted  to  escape.  They 
would  be  burned  like  rats  in  a  trap.  New  York 
forms  an  ideal  target  for  night  attack  from  air- 
craft, because  it  is  outlined  by  the  two  rivers  on 
each  side  of  it,  by  its  high  buildings,  and  by  Long 
Island,  which  can  be  used  as  a  reference  point 
and  guide  directly  to  it.  The  only  efficient  pro- 
tection against  an  enemy's  aircraft  is  an  air  force 
capable  of  defeating  it. 

In  the  development  of  national  aeronautics, 
commercial  aviation  is  almost  as  great  an  asset 
as  if  it  were  regularly  incorporated  into  fighting 
units.  The  commercial  equipment  and  pilots  used 
have  an  immediate  military  application,  either  as 
training  equipment,  as  bombardment  equipment, 
for  the  heavy  commercial  airplanes,  or  in  recon- 
naissance on  account  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
country  which  the  pilots  possess.  In  addition,  the 
system  of  airdromes,  air  lanes,  and  aids  to  air 


FOREWORD 


XXV 


navigation  required  to  handle  commercial  aviation 
are  exactly  those  which  we  would  need  in  case 
of  war.  The  development  of  commercial  aviation 
would  work  "hand  and  glove"  with  the  protection 
of  the  country  from  air  attack. 

After  having  developed  a  great  merchant 
marine  carrying  more  than  90  per  cent  of  the  trade 
of  the  world,  we  let  it  slip  away  from  us  during 
our  Civil  War,  and  never  regained  it.  We 
worked  up  a  military  machine  during  the  Civil 
War  that  was  the  greatest  thing  which  the  world 
had  seen  up  to  that  time,  and  let  it  completely  slip 
away  from  us,  so  that  in  such  a  small  contest  as 
the  Spanish  War,  we  were  not  able  to  conduct  an 
efficient  campaign  on  this  Lilliputian  basis.  In 
the  European  War  we  worked  up  a  great  military 
system,  which  we  have  largely  disintegrated  and 
dissolved.  While  national  policies  involving  ex- 
pense, and  a  lack  of  cause  for  the  use  of  our 
military  forces,  may  have  required  this  in  the 
popular  mind,  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
deliberately  throw  away  the  aeronautical  position 
which  we  had  acquired  actually  at  the  end  of  the 
War,  because  [provision  of  an  adequate  air  force 
involves  a  comparatively  small  expenditure  in 
men  and  treasure  in  accordance  with  the  protec- 
tion which  it  gives  the  nation.)  It  can  be  employed 
to  the  greatest  advantage  in  useful  pursuits  in 


xxvi  FOREWORD 

time  of  peace,  and  is  a  development,  every  com- 
mercial phase  of  which  has  a  direct  application 
to  national  defense.  Aeronautics  is  a  new  and 
developing  art.  We  must  not  prepare  for  what 
happened  yesterday,  but  what  is  going  to  happen 
to-morrow,  and  the  day  after.  We  are  spending 
sufficient  money  at  the  present  time  to  insure  an 
efficient  air  service,  but  we  are  getting  ahead  very 
little  with  it.  Let  us  not  forget  the  lessons  of  the 
past  with  respect  to  aeronautics,  and  again  place 
ourselves  in  an  absolutely  defenseless  position 
before  the  other  nations  of  the  world. 


OUR  AIR  FORCE 


CHAPTER  I 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 

THE  European  War  proved  that  Aviation  is 
one  of  the  major  arms  of  national  defense,  and 
that  without  its  aid  no  nation  can  defend  itself, 
nor  can  armies  or  navies  in  the  future  bring  about 
an  armed  decision  favorable  to  themselves.  Four 
and  one-half  years  saw  Aviation  raised  to  this 
pre-eminent  position  from  almost  nothing. 

Before  the  great  War,  Aviation  had  been  re- 
garded more  as  a  science  than  as  a  force  whifcli 
constituted  an  element  of  power  to  a  State,  equal 
in  importance  to  armies  and  navies.  Its  efficacy 
was  questioned  by  the  great  majority  of  the  older 
professional  soldiers,  and  it  struggled  against 
prejudice,  ignorance,  and  incompetency  in  its  de- 
velopment. 

In  spite  of  all  these  handicaps,  however,  within 
four  and  one-half  years,  it  has  stood  out  as  an 
arm  by  itself,  supreme  in  its  own  power  in  the 
air,  and  bidding  defiance  to  armies  on  the  ground 
and  navies  on  the  water.  No  other  military  in- 


2  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

stmment  has  ever  demonstrated,  within  such  a 
short  time,  its  absolute  necessity,  dependability, 
and  power  for  carrying  out  military  requirements. 

In  1914,  when  the  European  War  began,  the 
airplanes  were  of  the  most  rudimentary  type, 
and  the  crews  that  manned  them  were  even  more 
crude  in  their  knowledge  of  their  use.  The  prob- 
lem of  aerial  navigation  had  been  studied  very 
carefully,  particularly  by  the  French  and  the 
Germans,  and  by  England.  They  had  not  taken 
into  consideration  fighting  in  the  air  to  any  ex- 
tent ;  nor  did  they  at  first  regard  the  great  military 
principle  that  to  gain  information  one  has  to  fight 
for  it  in  the  air  as  well  as  on  the  ground. 

The  airplanes  which  appeared  on  the  battle- 
fields in  August,  1914,  had  engines  of  from  eighty 
to  one  hundred  horse-power,  and  a  speed  of  from 
sixty  to  one  hundred  miles  an  hour.  They  had 
no  machine  guns  on  them,  no  large  cameras,  and 
had  the  ability  of  staying  in  the  air  for  a  couple 
of  hours  only.  When  hostile  aviators  met,  they 
went  ahead  about  their  business,  in  some  cases 
waving  a  sign  of  recognition  one  to  the  other  as 
they  passed.  Nobody  took  the  Air  Service  very 
seriously  except  the  aviators  themselves  at  the 
beginning.  In  many  instances,  their  reports  were 
disregarded  and  laughed  at. 

A  notable  instance  of  this,  which  led  to  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  3 

destruction  of  a  whole  army,  occurred  to  the 
Austrians  at  the  Battle  of  Cholm,  in  August,  1914, 
when,  after  successful  preliminary  battles  with 
the  Russians,  they  held  that  city  with  the  inten- 
tion of  advancing  further  into  Eussia.  The  Rus- 
sian Army,  reinforced,  advanced  to  attack  them, 
and,  in  doing  this,  sent  heavy  columns  against  the 
right  flank  of  the  Austrian  Army.  The  Austrian 
aviators  immediately  reported  this  move,  hut  the 
General  Staff  of  the  Austrian  Army  proved  con- 
clusively that  a  column  of  the  size,  length,  and 
character  of  the  one  reported  by  the  aviators 
could  not  possibly  be  in  that  vicinity,  that  the 
Russians  did  not  have  the  means  of  transport  for 
getting  these  forces  there,  and  even  that  Russian 
organizations  could  not  march  on  the  roads  in- 
dicated on  account  of  the  character  of  their 
equipment.  The  Russians,  however,  were  there 
just  as  the  aviators  reported.  The  result  of  this 
was  that  the  Austrians  were  attacked  in  entirely 
unexpected  quarters,  and  their  army  was  com- 
pletely defeated  and  practically  destroyed.  In- 
stances of  a  similar  nature  occurred  on  the 
Western  Front,  both  in  France  and  in  Germany. 
By  the  Autumn  of  1914,  it  dawned  on  all  the 
contenders  in  the  War  that  aerial  observation 
was  a  necessity,  and  that  without  it  in  every 
operation  pertaining  to  reconnaisance,  regulating 


4  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  fire  of  artillery,  and  even  finding  out  where 
one's  own  forces  were,  nothing  could  be  done 
without  the  airplane.  The  Germans  particularly 
saw  this  very  clearly,  and,  when  making  up  their 
plans  for  the  Spring  Drive  of  1915,  they  consid- 
ered that,  if  they  were  going  to  be  successful, 
they  must  drive  the  French  airplanes  out  of  the 
air  so  as  to  surprise  the  enemy  troops  on  the 
ground,  and  render  victory  to  the  German  armies 
possible. 

The  Germans  therefore  took  their  fastest  and 
most  maneuver  able  airplanes,  and  put  the  machine 
gun  on  them  to  take  the  place  of  the  pistol  and 
hand  rifles  with  which  they  had  been  previously 
armed.  The  idea  of  the  German  Army  was  to 
smash  through  the  French  in  the  vicinity  of 
Verdun,  and,  as  a  preliminary  to  this  attack,  to 
seize  and  hold  the  air  so  that  the  French  would 
not  know  from  which  direction  their  ground  at- 
tack would  come  on  the  battlefield. 

The  first  German  attacks  took  place  in  Febru- 
ary— the  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  and  the 
weather  was  cold.  The  arrangements  for  landing 
fields  on  the  part  of  the  French,  in  that  locality, 
were  almost  nothing,  and,  although  experiments 
had  been  made  with  machine  guns  on  their  air- 
planes, the  French  equipment  was  very  deficient 
in  this  respect.  The  Germans,  on  the  other  hand, 


I 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  5 

came  on  with  their  armed  airplanes  and  com- 
menced an  era  of  fighting  in  the  air  which  will 
extend  and  increase  for  all  time.     The  French 
replied  to  this  by  exerting  their  every  nerve  to 
counteract  the  air  attack,  and  during  the  year 
1915  pursuit  aviation,  or  that  which  goes  out  and 
fights  the  enemy  aviation  for  control  of  the  air, 
was  established  definitely  as  a  special  branch  of 
Aviation.     From  that  time  on,  primary  consid- 
eration was   given   to   the   fighting   of  airplane 
against  airplane  as  a  principle — as  a  prelude  to 
any  other  air  work,  whether  it  be  gaining  informa- 
tion for  the  army  to  which  the  airplanes  were 
attached,  dropping  bombs  by  day  or  night,  or 
the  actual  shooting  up,  or  "straafing"  as  it  was 
called  in  those  days,  of  troops  on  the  ground.    In 
1914,  the  airplane  carried  a  few  little  grenades 
weighing  less  than  ten  pounds  each,  steel  darts 
to  throw  down  on  their  enemies ;  and  one  or  two 
light-weight  cannon  projectiles,  made  up  as  bombs, 
were  tried.     By  1917,  definite  organizations  of 
airplanes  were  carrying  bombs  weighing  up  to 
500  pounds.     By  the  end  of  the  war,  airplanes 
were  carrying  bombs  weighing  upwards  of  a  ton, 
and  the  organization  in  the  air  forces  for  this 
purpose  numbered  hundreds  of  airplanes.    In  fact, 
during  the  operations  of  the  American  Army  in 
the  Argonne,  a  single  aerial  formation  had  over 


6  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

300  airplanes  in  it  for  the  purpose  of  a  bomb 
attack  against  the  Germans. 

As  things  progressed,  the  combatants  began  to 
put  armor  on  their  airplanes  so  as  to  resist 
machine  gun  fire  from  the  ground  or  other  air- 
planes. They  began  to  machine  gun  the  troops 
at  low  altitude  and  even  to  mount  cannon  on  the 
planes,  making  veritable  battleships  of  the  air. 
A  whole  new  industry  sprang  up  to  make  all  the 
airplanes,  their  engines  and  their  accessories,  and 
all  the  special  arms  and  appliances  connected  with 
them.  Nothing  like  this  had  ever  occurred  in  the 
world's  history. 

The  tremendous  development  in  aeronautics 
was  not  entirely  confined  to  airplanes;  but  a 
similar  development  took  place  with  balloons  and 
airships.  Balloons  had  been  used  with  armies  for 
a  great  many  years.  In  fact,  the  French  Army 
operating  in  Belgium  in  1792  had  observation 
balloons  as  a  part  of  its  equipment;  Napoleon 
used  them  in  Egypt;  and  our  own  Army  of  the 
Potomac  in  the  Civil  War  was  equipped  with  them. 
They  were  used  in  the  War  of  1870,  both  as  free 
balloons,  to  get  messages  out  of  Paris  when  it 
was  besieged,  and  also  as  a  means  of  observation 
with  the  troops.  The  Germans  had  developed  a 
form  of  kite  balloon  called  the  Drachen,  which 
was  much  more  stable  in  the  air  than  the  former 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  7 

round  balloon  had  been.  In  fact  the  Drachen 
was  the  first  successful  type  of  kite  balloon.  This 
balloon  was  greatly  improved  and  changed  by 
the  French  engineer,  Caquot,  who  devised  a  bal- 
loon that  could  be  operated  in  winds  up  to  30 
or  40  miles  an  hour,  which  is  almost  as  stable 
as  an  observation  platform  on  the  ground,  and 
which  had  a  balloon  winch  actuated  by  automobile 
machinery  that  raised  and  lowered  it  with  the 
greatest  precision.  These  balloons  are  connected 
to  the  earth  by  telephone  cables  going  to  telephone 
centrals,  which,  in  turn,  connect  it  with  the  bat- 
teries and  the  troops  with  which  they  are  working. 
Early  in  the  War  these  balloons  took  their  place 
as  an  indispensable  adjunct  with  the  troops,  and 
their  use  was  continually  extended.  During  the 
last  two  years  of  the  War,  so  many  balloons  were 
used  around  a  point  under  attack,  or  by  the  de- 
fense to  counteract  the  attack,  that  they  looked 
almost  like  an  aerial  picket  fence.  While  the 
uses  of  balloons  had  been  very  well  worked  out 
before  the  War  commenced,  the  actual  use  of  air- 
ships was  still  a  problem.  The  Germans  had  done 
more  with  them  than  any  other  nation.  The  first 
airships — that  is,  dirigible  balloons,  as  they  were 
called  then — appeared  many  years  before  a  suc- 
cessful airplane  was  devised.  Every  sort  of  a 
dirigible  airship  was  used  during  the  War,  from 


8  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  little  non-rigid  gas  bags  with  an  engine  at- 
tached to  them,  that  were  employed  around  har- 
bors to  determine  the  presence  of  submarines  and 
to  convoy  surface  vessels  in  and  out  of  roadsteads, 
to  the  large  Italian  semi-rigid  airships  that  were 
able  to  carry  several  tons  and  rise  over  the  Alps 
Mountains. 

The  Germans,  however,  with  their  Zeppelins  or 
rigid  airships,  proved  beyond  the  question  of  a 
doubt  their  great  value  as  military  adjuncts. 
These  airships  have  a  rigid  envelope  made  of  an 
aluminum  frame  work  covered  with  cloth.  Inside 
of  the  envelope  the  gas  is  contained,  in  a  number 
of  small  balloons,  called  ballonets.  The  Zeppelins 
are  equipped  with  four  or  more  engines,  and  are 
able  to  stay  in  the  air  for  several  days.  These 
airships  were  designed  originally  for  reconnais- 
sance purposes.  Very  early  in  the  War  it  was 
found  that  not  only  could  they  reconnoiter,  but 
they  had  great  value  as  offensive  instruments,  in 
carrying  bombs  for  the  direct  attack  of  enemy 
works  and  formations.  The  Germans  used  these 
ships  for  this  purpose,  particularly  on  the  Eastern 
Front  against  the  Eussians.  They  made  repeated 
bombardment  raids  over  England  and  France, 
and  were  even  ready  to  attack  the  United  States 
at  the  time  of  the  Armistice.  All  of  this  offensive 
power  was  developed  during  the  War,  and  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  9 

loss  of  these  ships  from  hostile  air  attack  was 
quite  small,  because  they  could  remain  so  high 
up  that  airplanes  had  difficulty  in  rising  suffi- 
ciently quickly  to  head  them  off. 

One  German  airship,  during  the  War,  made  a 
trip  of  4,000  miles  from  Bulgaria  to  German  East 
Africa  and  return  without  landing.  This  ship 
had  a  great  store  of  ammunition  on  board  for 
the  relief  of  the  Colonial  troops,  and  a  very  com- 
prehensive scheme  had  been  worked  out  that,  in 
case  it  landed,  its  frame  work  would  be  used  for 
storehouses,  its  cloth  for  tents,  clothing  and  other 
covering,  its  nacelles  were  to  be  transformed 
into  boats  for  use  on  the  rivers,  its  remaining 
gasoline  for  motor  transport  purposes,  and  its 
armament  for  use  of  the  troops  on  the  ground. 
The  airship  was  guided  during  its  entire  trip  by 
wireless  from  Europe.  Through  some  mistake, 
when  the  airship  arrived  over  East  Africa  it  was 
led  to  believe  that  the  Allies  had  taken  the  Colony. 
It,  therefore,  returned  to  Europe  without  having 
accomplished  its  mission;  but  giving  an  example 
of  how  great  a  distance  an  airship  could  go. 

The  development  of  airships  has  continued ;  and 
it  will  take  its  place  beside  the  airplane  as  a 
co-ordinate  branch  of  aeronautics.  One  cannot 
alone  do  its  full  work  in  a  military  way  without 
the  other. 


10  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

The  use  of  aviation,  both  tactically  and  stra- 
tegically, was  beginning  to  be  understood  in  its 
rudiments  by  all  the  ground  troops  at  the  end  of 
the  War.  It  was  known  definitely,  however,  only 
to  the  Air  officers  themselves.  The  air  force  had 
become  as  specialized  in  its  own  work  in  the  air 
as  the  armies  were  on  land  and  the  navies  on  the 
water.  Pursuit,  Attack,  and  Bombardment  avia- 
tion were  just  as  different  as  Cavalry,  Infantry, 
and  Artillery.  The  War  gave  a  greater  impetus 
to  aviation  and  air  tactics  than  probably  would 
have  resulted  from  sixty  or  seventy  years  of 
peace-time  development,  as  it  was  before  the  War. 
When  the  War  closed,  the  air  forces  were  the  only 
thing  which  all  the  Europeans  hung  to  tenaciously 
— the  Allies  on  their  side  requiring  that  the 
Germans  cease  work  on  the  development  of  their 
air  forces;  the  French  holding  on  to  theirs  as 
their  strongest  element  of  offense  against  the 
Germans,  not  only  as  a  means  of  defending  them- 
selves in  future  wars,  but  as  a  military  means  of 
making  the  Germans  comply  with  the  treaty  pro- 
visions. The  British,  ahead  of  all  other  nations, 
in  their  plan  of  organization  of  their  air  forces 
not  only  developed  their  service  for  fighting  over 
the  land  but  also  for  fighting  over  the  sea,  to  con- 
test with  hostile  air  forces  the  dominion  of  the 
waters  as  well  as  of  the  land. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  11 

Shortly  after  the  end  of  the  War,  the  Atlantic 
was  crossed  by  airplanes  and  a  dirigible.  Dirigi- 
bles have  been  built  which  can  go  around  the 
world  at  about  the  forty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude 
on  one  charge  of  fuel.  The  progress  since  the 
Armistice  to  the  present  time,  from  a  scientific 
standpoint,  has  been  greater  than  almost  for  the 
four  years  preceding  that.  The  airplane  has 
taken  its  place  in  commerce  while  the  airship  is 
developing  as  a  great  carrier  of  the  future.  So 
far,  aviation  is  essentially  a  military  instrument 
of  government.  It  has  not  arrived  at  the  point 
where  it  can  with  economy  support  itself  in  the 
commercial  field.  That  this  is  coming,  there  can 
be  no  doubt,  and  coming  quickly.  That  it  is  an 
indispensable  part  of  the  national  defense,  with- 
out adequate  provision  for  which  the  nation  can- 
not succeed  in  either  a  defensive  or  offensive  war, 
is  unquestioned. 

We  should,  therefore,  investigate  the  nature  of 
this  new  power  which  has  come  to  us  in  the  air, 
to  see  what  advantages  it  has  over  the  older  arms 
on  the  ground  and  the  water,  in  its  principal  use 
for  national  defense. 


CHAPTER  H 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AIE  POWER 

SPEED  of  locomotion  is  the  predominant  char- 
acteristic of  air  power. 

Armies  on  the  ground  move  two  and  a  half 
miles  an  hour  by  marching,  and  about  twenty 
miles  an  hour  on  railroad  trains.  A  column  of 
troops  on  one  road,  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  long 
(which  is  the  depth  of  an  ordinary  tactical  divi- 
sion of  infantry  troops),  requires  about  six  hours 
or  more  to  deploy  on  a  front,  that  is,  to  prepare 
to  fight.  Navies  move  at  a  maximum  rate  of  about 
twenty  miles  an  hour,  and  increase  this  speed 
about  thirty  per  cent  when  going  into  action. 

Airplanes  move  in  large  bodies  at  the  rate  of 
one  hundred  miles  an  hour  or  over.  They  fight 
at  speeds  around  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  an 
hour,  while  the  fastest  ones  are  approaching  the 
two  hundred-mile  rate.  The  range  of  view  is  almost 
infinite  as  compared  with  troops  on  the  ground 
or  a  navy  on  the  water.  At  a  height  of  fifteen 

12 


American  Single  Engine  Attack  Airplane.    Equipped  with  Radio 
Telephone  and  Telegraph 


Type  of  American  Attack  Airplane.    Carries  a  Cannon  and  Eight 

Machine  Guns 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AIR  POWER       13 

thousand  feet,  a  radius  of  view  of  fifty  miles  is 
possible ;  in  other  words,  a  circle  whose  diameter 
is  one  hundred  miles,  and  one  can  see  much 
further  if  the  weather  is  clear.  The  time  of  de- 
velopment for  battle  by  airplanes,  that  is,  getting 
from  their  traveling  formations  into  their  fight- 
ing formations,  is  negligible,  because  they  move 
in  closely  packed  bodies,  communicate  with  each 
other  by  radio  telegraph,  telephone  or  visual  sig- 
nals, both  of  which  have  the  speed  of  light,  and 
therefore  can  change  from  what  might  be  termed 
a  column  of  route  to  a  formation  for  battle  in  one 
or  two  minutes. 

Their  routes  through  the  air  are  in  a  straight 
line — mountains,  rivers,  deserts  and  oceans  are 
not  obstacles.  The  State  has  no  air  frontiers 
comparable  to  borders  protected  by  deserts,  coast- 
lines, mountain  ranges  or  deep  rivers  on  the 
ground.  The  air  permeates  the  whole  world 
homogeneously,  the  only  change  being  in  its  tem- 
perature and  density.  From  the  standpoint  of 
speed,  we  may  say  an  air  force  moves  from  five 
to  eight  times  as  fast  as  an  army  per  hour,  and 
from  three  to  six  times  as  fast  as  a  navy.  The 
Atlantic  Ocean  has  been  crossed  in  sixteen  hours, 
while  the  Continent  of  North  America  has  been 
traversed  in  twenty-five  hours'  flying  time.  The 
size  of  the  air  force  that  may  be  employed  is 


14  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

unlimited,  because  it  has  the  whole  air  in  whicK 
to  operate,  as  distinguished  from  roads  or  rail- 
roads on  the  ground,  or  even  an  ocean,  with  its 
limitations  of  a  single  dimension,  distance  and 
coastlines.  Compared  to  armies,  an  air  force  is 
not  tied  down  by  roads.  It  can  move  to  any 
place  entirely  unhindered.  Compared  to  navies, 
its  speed,  power  of  vision,  and  maneuverability, 
are  unlimited.  The  perfection  of  the  means  of 
communication  for  an  air  force  is  an  added  ele- 
ment in  its  superiority.  From  its  speed  alone, 
an  air  force  has  the  power  of  taking  the  offensive 
against  either  a  navy  or  an  army,  and  engaging 
these  forces  under  its  own  conditions.  Providing 
an  air  force  has  gained  control  of  the  air,  it  can 
completely  conceal  its  own  movements,  or  the 
movements  of  an  army  on  the  ground  or  a  navy 
on  the  water,  by  preventing  hostile  reconnais- 
sance. It  can  pick  up  and  follow  a  ship,  or  a 
column  of  troops  and  report  their  exact  position 
during  every  minute  that  it  is  there.  It  can  com- 
municate back  to  bring  up  Attack  and  Bombard- 
ment Aviation,  and  direct  these  to  the  objects, 
or  attack  them  as  it  sees  fit.  Consequently,  the 
only  defense  against  an  air  force  is  another  air 
force,  and  as  an  indispensable  prelude  to  any 
engagement,  whether  it  be  on  the  water  or  on  the 
land,  there  must  be  an  air  battle  to  determine 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AIR  POWER       15 

which  side  shall  control  this  area  above  the  earth 
and  the  water. 

Our  doctrine  of  aviation,  therefore,  should  be 
to  find  out  where  the  hostile  air  force  is,  to  con- 
centrate on  that  point  with  our  Pursuit,  Attack, 
and  Bombardment  Aviation,  to  obtain  a  decision 
over  the  hostile  air  force,  and  then  to  attack  the 
enemy's  armies  on  land  or  navies  on  the  water, 
and  obtain  a  decision  over  them.  Our  policy 
should  be  to  maintain  as  strong  an  aviation  as 
is  necessary  to  defend  ourselves  against  the  com- 
bined attack  of  our  probable  adversaries.  Our 
method  for  carrying  this  into  effect  should  be  to 
have  the  necessary  air  forces  always  ready  at  the 
outbreak  of  war,  because  this  is  the  first  of  our 
arms  that  will  enter  into  combat  and  it  is  upon 
a  favorable  air  decision  that  the  whole  fate  of 
a  war  may  depend.  We  should  have  an  air  force 
behind  our  East  Coast  that  is  sufficient  for  its 
local  protection.  We  should  have  an  air  force 
behind  our  Pacific  Coast  that  is  sufficient  for  its 
local  protection ;  and  we  should  have  in  the  coun- 
try at  large  an  air  force  so  organized  that  it 
could  reinforce  either  coast  and  insure  our  de- 
fense in  the  air.  In  a  space  which  is  practically 
limitless  like  the  air,  it  is  just  as  impossible  to 
stop  entirely  the  use  of  a  few  airplanes  or  very 
fast  individual  enemy  ships,  as  it  is  impossible 


16  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

for  an  artillery  to  entirely  silence  an  enemy's 
artillery,  no  matter  how  great  their  fire  may  be. 
With  the  proper  employment  of  air  units,  these 
isolated  enemy  patrols  have  to  be  so  careful  in 
their  work,  are  so  harried  by  the  defense,  and 
are  exposed  to  snch  great  danger,  that  their 
actual  accomplishments  are  very  small  in  the 
total.  In  air  work,  however,  a  vigorous  attack 
against  any  point  of  the  enemy's  country  which 
makes  it  imperative  that  he  defend  it  with  his 
air  force,  requires  him  to  concentrate  for  its  de- 
fense. This  gives  a  chance  to  the  Air  Commander 
to  concentrate  immediately  against  him  and  to 
seek  a  decision  with  his  main  air  force. 

In  our  operations  at  Chateau  Thierry,  where 
we  were  greatly  outnumbered  by  the  German 
aviation  and  where  spreading  out  or  dissemi- 
nating our  air  force  in  small  detachments  spelled 
entire  defeat  for  us,  we  concentrated  all  the  Allied 
Bombardment  Aviation  that  we  could  collect, 
bombarded  the  town  of  Fere-en-Tardenois  (which 
was  a  very  important  place  for  the  Germans)  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  had  to  concentrate  their 
Pursuit  Aviation  for  the  defense  of  this  place. 
We  then  brought  a  concentrated  attack  against 
their  Pursuit  Aviation  at  that  place  with  our 
Pursuit  Aviation,  which  in  the  end  resulted  not 
only  in  drawing  the  German  Pursuit  Aviation 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AIR  POWER       17 

away  from  the  vicinity  of  our  ground  troops  so 
that  it  gave  our  Observation  Aviation  an  oppor- 
tunity to  work,  but  also  caused  a  very  heavy  loss 
to  the  enemy,  and  ended  in  balancing  the  air 
power  where  the  Germans  before  had  entirely 
dominated.  Again,  in  the  Argonne  Battle  of  the 
First  Army,  where  the  congestion  of  transporta- 
tion and  men  behind  the  center  of  our  front  was 
so  great  that  a  well-directed  German  air  attack 
against  our  transport  trains,  which  did  not  move 
for  many  hours,  would  have  held  up  the  opera- 
tion of  the  whole  army,  we  bombarded  German 
centers  of  concentration,  such  as  Eomagne, 
Grand  Pre,  and  other  places  absolutely  essential 
to  the  Germans  for  the  supply  and  upkeep  of 
their  forces,  so  that  they  had  to  concentrate  their 
Pursuit  Aviation  for  the  defense  of  these  places. 
We  had  great  air  battles  over  these  localities 
between  the  main  force  of  the  German,  American, 
and  Allied  Pursuit  Aviation,  because  the  Ger- 
mans had  to  defend  these  places  with  their  air 
forces  or  compromise  their  whole  ground  opera- 
tions. After  a  series  of  air  battles,  we  gradually 
obtained  the  decision,  and  it  ended  by  our  men 
shooting  down  a  ratio  of  eight  or  ten  of  their 
airplanes  to  a  loss  of  one  on  our  side. 

By  the  first  of  November,  we  had  obtained 
mastery  of  the  air  in  our  sector,  after  a  month 


18  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  heavy  fighting  for  it.  The  Germans  used  every 
art  known  to  aeronautical  strategy  and  tactics 
to  maintain  their  position,  with  a  constantly  de- 
creasing number  of  effectives.  It  was  indeed  an 
heroic  struggle  for  them,  and  had  they  been 
pitted  against  a  force  that  was  not  entirely 
familiar  with  their  tactics  and  methods,  they 
would  have  been  successful.  Their  anti-aircraft 
defense  from  the  ground  was  excellent  and  well 
co-ordinated  with  their  air  force,  but  this,  of 
course,  is  merely  an  auxiliary  of  the  air  force 
itself.  It  acts  as  their  sentinel  and  is  a  means 
of  signaling  to  the  airplanes  by  the  projectiles 
shot  out  by  the  guns,  in  addition  to  its  positive 
value  of  fire  attack  against  aircraft.  It  has  no 
decisive  effect  on  an  air  battle.  As  our  pre- 
dominance over  the  German  air  force  became 
greater,  just  so  much  more  were  our  airplanes 
used  against  the  retreating  German  columns  on 
the  ground,  their  motor  trains,  marching  columns, 
railroads  and  military  works  of  all  sorts.  These 
ground  columns  and  formations  were  subjected 
to  concentrated  attack,  where  previously  all  air- 
planes had  to  be  used  for  fighting  their  aviation. 
The  air  decision  gave  us  the  opportunity  of 
entirely  concealing  our  movements,  while  we  knew 
exactly  what  the  enemy  was  doing.  All  the  air- 
planes were  used  directly  in  combination  with 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  AIR  POWER       19 

assisting  the  ground  troops  to  destroy  the  enemy's 
forces  of  all  kinds.  The  decision  in  the  air  re- 
sulted in  giving  our  forces  the  complete  power 
of  initiative  over  the  Germans — we  could  attack 
where,  when  and  how  we  wanted  to. 


CHAPTER 

THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIB  POWER 

AIR  POWER  is  applied  by  means  of  definite 
military  air  units  which,  are  organized,  armed, 
equipped  and  trained  for  a  definite  and  specific 
purpose.  One  kind  of  airplane  or  air  organiza- 
tion can  no  more  perform  all  the  duties  required 
of  an  air  force  than  can  Artillery,  Cavalry  or 
Infantry  acting  alone  form  a  whole  army. 

The  kind  of  aviation  that  a  certain  nation  needs 
is  not  necessarily  of  the  same  character  as  that 
required  by  another  country.  For  instance,  Ger- 
many needs  a  certain  line  of  aviation  develop- 
ment to  meet  her  national  policy.  This  is  true 
of  England,  France  and  Japan,  while  our  require- 
ments are  different  from  any  of  them. 

On  account  of  the  speed  of  airplanes  and  the 
fact  that  they  must  occasionally  land  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground  to  replenish  their  fuel,  ammuni- 
tion and  personnel,  it  is  necessary  first  that  very 
efficient  means  of  communication  be  provided  so 

20 


I 

o 


a 


O 

s 

H 


I 


O 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIR  POWER        21 

that  these  air  forces  can  be  properly  guided  for 
the  work  that  they  are  required  to  do. 

In  the  operation  of  the  American  Army  in 
Europe,  the  Air  Service  had  a  complete  com- 
munication system  entirely  of  its  own.  It  con- 
sisted of  what  is  known  as  a  radio  net.  Every 
airdrome  or  landing  field  was  connected  with 
every  other  one  by  radio;  the  anti-aircraft  artil- 
lery with  its  anti-aircraft  searchlights,  the  air- 
craft parks  and  depots;  and  all  of  these  were 
connected  with  the  headquarters  of  the  command- 
ing officer  of  the  Air  Service.  Special  telephone 
lines  for  the  Air  Service  connected  every  air- 
drome, headquarters  and  supply  point,  while  the 
headquarters  of  the  Air  Service  was  connected 
directly  with  the  Commanding  General's  post  of 
command.  It  can  be  imagined  how  vast  a  system 
this  had  to  be,  when  these  airdromes  were  dis- 
tributed behind  a  front  sixty  miles  and  more 
broad,  with  a  depth  even  greater  than  this,  and 
where  from  1200  to  1500  airplanes  operated  over 
the  line  and  an  equal  number  of  airplanes  were 
always  coming  up  from  the  rear  to  take  the  places 
of  those  destroyed.  The  telephone,  wire  tele- 
graph, motorcycle  messengers  and  staff  officers  in 
automobiles,  carried  orders  and  instructions  to 
their  appointed  places  to  supplement  the  radio 
telegraph.  With  a  communicating  system  such 


22  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

as  this,  the  air  force  could  be  concentrated  at  a 
point  anywhere  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  miles 
away  within  an  hour,  or  could  be  shifted  across 
the  whole  front  of  sixty  miles  in  half  of  that 
time. 

The  advent  of  the  airplane  into  warfare  has 
given  the  commander  of  a  great  army  a  stra- 
tegical reserve  which  was  never  dreamed  of 
before  the  advent  of  this  wonderful  instru- 
ment. The  old  strategical  reserves  of  In- 
fantry troops  moved  about  two  and  one- 
half  miles  an  hour  on  the  battlefield.  If 
the  enemy  made  a  feint  which  drew  in  the  main 
reserves  to  the  fighting  line,  they  could  not  be 
extricated  in  time  to  effect  the  decision.  At  the 
battle  of  Mukden,  in  the  Manchurian  War,  the 
Japanese  directed  a  very  heavy  attack  against 
the  Eussian  left,  with  a  view  to  drawing  their 
reserve  in  that  direction,  so  as  to  attack  the 
Eussian  right  wing  with  their  main  forces.  The 
Eussian  commander  was  deluded  by  this  maneu- 
ver, and  started  his  reserve  for  the  left  of  his 
line.  His  front  line  was  about  87  miles  long. 
When  the  reserve  approached  the  left  of  his  line, 
the  Japanese  attacked  his  right.  The  reserve 
was  turned  around  and  marched  in  the  new 
direction,  and  after  three  days  of  marching  it 
never  reached  its  objective,  and  never  entered  the 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIR  POWER         23 

fight.  A  reserve  of  attack  and  bombardment  air- 
planes could  have  covered  this  whole  front  in 
less  than  an  hour.  If  a  mistake  had  been  made, 
they  could  have  been  turned  around  in  the  air 
and  applied  in  a  new  direction,  and  covered  a 
hundred  miles  in  the  same  time  that  troops  on 
the  ground  would  march  two  and  one-half 
miles,  or  in  one- sixth  of  the  time  that  it 
would  take  to  deploy  an  ordinary  division 
of  troops.  The  proper  application  of  air 
power  adds  tremendously,  not  only  to  the  of- 
fensive ability  of  a  force,  but  if  the  air  is  held, 
a  very  weak  ground  force  can  retreat  with  ease 
before  a  very  much  superior  enemy.  In  fact, 
without  air  supremacy,  an  army  cannot  be  pur- 
sued even  after  a  tactical  victory  has  been  ob- 
tained, because  the  retreating  army  can  com- 
pletely shield  its  own  movements,  and  at  the  same 
time  know  every  move  of  the  pursuer. 

Next,  as  airplanes  land  with  such  great  speed, 
from  forty  to  eighty  or  ninety  miles  an  hour,  it 
can  easily  be  seen  that  fepecial  landing  places  (have 
to  be  prepared  for  this  purpose.  To  understand 
how  necessary  good  airdromes  are,  one  may 
imagine  how  bumpy  it  is  for  an  automobile  to  go 
at  from  forty  to  eighty  miles  an  hour  over  an 
ordinary  field.  The  larger  the  airplane,  the  more 
perfect  must  be  the  landing  place,  because  the 


24  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

greater  the  weight  placed  on  the  landing  gear.  The 
losses  from  crashes  on  airdromes  themselves  are 
almost  as  great,  or  maybe  greater,  in  a  campaign 
than  the  casualties  that  occur  from  actual  air 
fighting.  In  the  application  of  air  power,  there- 
fore, it  is  necessary  to  have  as  excellent  a  system 
of  airdromes  as  is  possible. 

Not  only  should  a  country  have  permanent  air- 
/  dromes  located  in  time  of  peace  that  are  always 
ready  to  be  occupied  in  case  of  necessity,  but 
ample  provisions  should  be  made  to  locate  them 
wherever  necessary  in  time  of  war.  The  United 
States  Air  Service  has  traced  out  all  of  the  routes 
that  are  necessary  for  the  use  of  its  air  force  in 
case  of  war,  where  the  airdromes  should  be  located 
and  how  they  should  be  handled.  This,  however, 
is  a  paper  organization  and  will  require  time  to 
put  into  effect  in  case  of  war  under  the  present 
conditions.  The  Post  Office  Department,  in  the 
carrying  out  of  its  aerial  mail  projects,  is  estab- 
lishing a  splendid  system  of  airways  throughout 
the  country,  which  can  be  used  for  military  pur- 
poses. All  airways  established  by  the  Govern- 
ment, of  course,  could  be  made  available,  if 
properly  regulated,  for  civil  and  commercial 
aviation. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  things  to  construct 
rapidly  in  time  of  war  are  airdromes  for  a  large 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIR  POWER        25 

air  force.  In  the  operations  of  the  First  Ameri- 
can Army  during  the  World  War,  some  twenty- 
five  airdromes  had  to  be  provided  for  the  air 
force  participating  in  these  operations.  These 
airdromes  had  to  be  constructed  in  a  very  short 
space  of  time,  had  to  be  entirely  concealed  from 
the  enemy  during  construction,  had  to  be  con- 
nected with  the  necessary  signal  communications, 
roads,  and  means  of  obtaining  supplies,  and  had 
to  be  maintained  in  a  suitable  condition  for  use 
throughout  the  engagement.  Special  organiza- 
tions called  construction  squadrons  of  the  Air 
Service  were  used  for  this  purpose.  The  plana 
were  so  well  executed  that  every  airplane  that 
came  to  the  great  concentration  of  aviation  knew 
exactly  where  it  was  to  go,  found  everything  ready 
for  it  in  the  way  of  hangars,  gasoline,  oil  and 
supplies,  and  all  of  the  communications  installed. 
Not  only  was  it  the  greatest,  but  it  was  the  most 
successful,  concentration  of  this  kind  that  had 
taken  place  on  the  Western  Front,  and  was  en- 
tirely due  to  a  careful  consideration  of  the  problem 
that  had  to  be  solved,  and  the  efficiency  of  the 
force  that  did  it. 

Next,  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  the 
air  forces  know  what  the  [weather  is  going  to  be 
— whether  it  will  rain  or  shine,  snow  or  hail,  or 
whether  the  greatest  enemy  of  all  air  operations 


26  OUR  AIR. FORCE 

— fog — will  be  encountered.  It  must  be  known  in 
what  directions  and  how  strong  the  winds  are  in 
the  upper  atmosphere,  up  to  twenty  or  thirty 
thousand  feet,  because,  if  an  airplane  runs  into 
head  winds  of  one  hundred  miles  an  hour  at 
that  altitude,  it  may  be  entirely  stopped  from 
going  to  its  destination  in  the  time  required.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  it  has  favoring  winds  of  these 
speeds,  its  progress  will  be  very  greatly  facili- 
tated. 

In  the  World  War  in  Europe  where  the  weather 
reports  were  made  every  hour  or  half-hour,  as 
the  case  might  be,  these  reports  showed  the  wind 
velocity  at  all  altitudes  in  which  the  operations 
would  take  place,  the  height  of  the  clouds  above 
the  earth;  the  character  of  the  clouds,  whether 
they  were  thin,  whether  there  were  noles  through 
them;  whether  it  was  clear  above  the  first  layer 
of  clouds,  or  whether  another  layer  of  clouds  were 
encountered,  and  whether  they  contained  rain, 
hail  or  snow;  what  the  visibility  was  at  various 
altitudes,  that  is,  how  far  a  person  could  see,  either 
horizontally,  that  is,  on  the  same  level;  obliquely, 
that  is,  down  at  an  angle;  or  vertically,  that  is, 
straight  up  and  down.  No  maneuver  was  ever 
ordered  by  the  commander  of  an  air  force  unless 
the  meteorology  was  carefully  studied.  A  map 
was  always  kept  at  the  elbow  of  the  commanders 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIR  POWER         27 

of  the  various  air  units  which  showed  the  state 
of  the  weather  on  every  part  of  his  front  at  all 
times,  day  or  night. 

The  first  thing  for  us  to  do  in  applying  air 
power  is  to  lay  out  a  regularly  co-ordinated  series 
of  airdromes,  as  air  stations  are  called,  provided 
with  meteorological  equipment — that  is,  every- 
thing necessary  for  telling  what  the  weather  is  in 
that  vicinity,  what  it  may  be  in  other  places,  and 
what  weather  to  expect  the  following  day.  A 
system  of  wireless  telegraph  and  telephone  com- 
munication not  only  will  give  information  and 
orders  to  all  the  airplanes  on  these  airdromes 
while  they  are  on  the  ground,  but  it  will  give  them 
weather  warnings,  any  necessary  orders,  and 
guide  them  through  the  rain,  hail,  snow  or  fog 
while  in  the  air.  A  system  of  airdromes  and  air- 
ways through  the  country  is  almost  as  necessary 
in  the  application  of  an  air  force  as  is  a  system 
of  gasoline  and  oil  stations,  with  all  their  accom- 
paniments of  roads  and  telegraph  and  telephone 
lines,  for  the  automobilist,  or  a  similar  organiza- 
tion for  the  railroads. 

Taking  our  country  in  particular — and  it  might 
be  mentioned  that/ America  naturally  is  the  best 
suited  country  in  tBe  world  for  the  development 
of  an  air  force,  on  account  of  its  climate,  people 
and  resources^— we  might  trace  in  general  how 


28  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

these  air  lanes  should  be  organized.  To  begin 
with,  we  must  consider  what  points  are  the  most 
important  in  our  defense,  and  next  that  the  forces 
which  come  to  attack  us  must  proceed  to  this 
continent  through  the  air,  or  on  or  under  the 
water.  From  north  to  south  our  most  important 
area  lies  from  Chesapeake  Bay  to  and  including 
Boston,  and  from  east  to  west,  the  line  from 
New  York  to  Chicago.  Should  this  area  be  broken 
into  by  an  enemy,  and  any  of  the  great  centers 
destroyed,  such  as  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Buffalo,  Detroit  or  Chicago,  or  other  large  cities 
in  this  area,  oar  defense  would  be  greatly  com- 
promised. In  other  words,  more  than  two-thirds 
of  our  whole  industry,  population  and  finances  are 
to  be  found  dependent  on  this  area.  It  is  the 
keep  and  heart  of  the  nation.  At  the  same  time, 
it  is  the  most  exposed  to  air  attack  of  any  part 
of  our  country,  because  it  is  immediately  next  to 
our  land  and  water  frontiers. 

The  distance  from  Chesapeake  Bay  to  Boston 
is  about  five  hundred  miles.  Giving  a  slow  speed 
of  one  hundred  miles  an  hour  to  an  airplane,  it 
can  cover  this  front  in  five  hours.  If  an  air  force 
is  stationed  midway  between  these  two  places, 
with  the  distance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty,  or 
three  hundred  miles  to  cover,  it  can  be  brought 
to  bear  at  the  point  furthest  away  that  is  threat- 


Airdrome  with   Temporary  Hangars:  on  the  Mexican  Border 


A  Squadron  of  tlie  First  Surveillance  Group  on  the  Border 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIR  POWER        29 

ened  in  from  two  to  three  hours,  and  anywhere 
between  these  places  in  less  time.  The  air  dis- 
tance from  New  York  to  Chicago  is  about  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Our  pilots  have  actually 
flown  this  distance  in  about  five  and  one-half 
hours. 

We  must,  therefore,  consider  the  whole  country 
in  a  similar  manner,  and  organize  our  airways  so 
that  they  not  only  will  function  rapidly  in  time 
of  war,  but  may  be  useful  in  time  of  peace  for 
the  civil  and  commercial  aviation  which  is  bound 
to  come  in  the  future.  The  airways  required  for 
military  purposes  are  coincident  with  those  re- 
quired for  commercial  aviation,  because  the  great 
centers  of  population  are  both  strategical  and 
business  centers.  Each  section  of  the  coast  and 
its  interior  air  communications  must  be  regarded 
in  a  similar  way,  and  the  centers  for  the  concentra- 
tion, supply  and  deployment  of  our  air  forces 
foreseen  and  provided  for. 

In  the  diagram  of  proposed  airways,  it  may  be 
seen  that  these  routes  and  places  have  all  been 
thought  out  from  their  strategical,  tactical  and 
commercial  standpoints.  With  such  a  system,  air 
forces  could  be  transferred  from  New  York  to 
San  Francisco  in  twenty-five  hours'  flying  time, 
and  from  a  central  position  in  the  Middle  States 
they  could  fly  to  the  East  Coast  in  eight  hours, 


30  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

to  the  Western  frontier  in  fifteen  hours,  or  to  the 
Southern  Coast  and  along  the  Mexican  border  in 
ten  hours. 

Our  aviators  have  recently  flown  from  New 
York  to  Nome,  Alaska,  in  fifty-six  hours'  flying 
time,  without  the  loss  of  a  ship,  man  or  any  equip- 
ment, and  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  was 
the  first  trip  of  this  kind  attempted.  The  air- 
drome system,  meteorological  data,  and  the  com- 
municating and  supply  organizations  were  very 
rapidly  installed.  With  a  definite  and  well- 
planned  organization,  air  forces  could  be  thrown 
into  Alaska  with  very  great  rapidity,  and  would 
form  a  most  efficient  defense  in  that  territory  in 
case  of  war.  Air  forces  can  reach  Panama  across 
Cuba  and  Yucatan  in  approximately  twelve  hours, 
or  through  Mexico  and  Central  America  in  ap- 
proximately twenty  hours'  flying  time.  An  air 
force  under  these  conditions  would  provide  the 
greatest  and  most  efficient  strategical  reserve 
which  could  be  used  on  either  the  East  Coast,  the 
West  Coast,  the  Southern  or  Northern  Frontier, 
and  could  be  applied  against  an  enemy  in  one- 
tenth  the  time  of  any  other  force,  such  as  an  army 
or  navy.  Due  to  its  speed  and  its  power  to  move 
through  the  air,  its  whole  strength  may  be  brought 
against  an  enemy  on  convergent  lines  from  all 
directions.  In  case  the  United  States  were  at- 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  AIR  POWER         31 

tacked  on  both  coasts,  it  is  by  no  means  beyond 
the  realm  of  possibility  that  an  air  force  could 
be  used  from  our  Atlantic  Coast  to  our  Pacific 
Coast,  and  from  Alaska  to  Panama,  so  as  to 
insure  a  decision  where  it  was  necessary.  During 
the  last  war,  Germany  used  her  Infantry  divisions 
on  the  ground  against  the  Eussians,  French  and 
Italians  at  various  times.  An  air  force  could  be 
used  over  the  whole  expanse  of  our  country,  in- 
cluding Panama  and  Alaska,  in  fewer  hours  than 
it  took  for  Germany  to  move  her  ground  troops 
from  one  of  her  battle  fronts  to  the  other. 

In  war,  it  is  always  difficult  to  time  an  attack 
so  that  every  place  will  be  assaulted  at  the  same 
instant.  If  this  country  were  attacked  both  from 
the  East  and  West  at  the  same  time,  the  chances 
are  that  these  assaults,  might  be  weeks  apart ;  if 
they  were  only  days  apart,  however,  an  air  force 
on  account  of  its  speed  could  be  shifted  clear  from 
the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  to  meet  them. 


CHAPTER  IV 

BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  AND  THEIE  USE  IN  WAR 

AVIATION  depends  for  its  action  on  a  concentra- 
tion of  air  power  at  the  decisive  point.  Isolated 
action  of  any  one  class  of  airplanes,  or  of  a  few 
flights  or  squadrons  of  planes,  is  incapable  of 
influencing  a  decision  against  a  modern  air  force. 
An  air  force  has  the  advantage  of  being  able  to 
bring  fire  to  bear  in  three  dimensions :  from  above, 
from  underneath,  and  on  the  same  level;  and 
from  any  direction — that  is,  from  in  front,  on 
the  flank,  and  in  reverse  or  behind.  The  old 
saying  with  ground  armies  is  that  one  rifle  on  the 
flank  of  an  enemy  is  worth  five  in  front  of  him. 
This  is  for  the  reason  that  an  enemy  fires  in  line 
and  directs  his  maximum  fire  to  the  front.  A  rifle 
shooting  into  his  flank,  therefore,  is  not  only  free 
from  fire  from  the  enemy,  but  has  as  a  target  the 
enemy  in  a  deep  formation  equivalent  to  a  column 
in  front  of  him,  where  one  bullet  may  hit  a  great 
many  military  targets  successively.  One  rifle 
behind  him  is  worth  ten  in  front.  An  enemy  at- 

32 


BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  33 

tacked  from  behind  is  practically  helpless,  par- 
ticularly if  the  rear  attack  is  combined  with  a 
frontal  attack,  because  he  has  absolutely  no  means 
of  defending  himself  without  making  a  complete 
about-face  in  the  new  direction.  Fire  from  the 
rear  shatters  the  nerve  of  troops  or  airmen  more 
than  any  other  kind  of  fire  that  can  possibly  be 
brought  to  bear. 

This  great  advantage  of  a  surrounding  attack 
which  Aviation  holds  is  utilized  to  the  utmost  in 
its  major  arm  of  offense,  Pursuit  Aviation.  All 
military  development,  no  matter  what  its  nature, 
has  depended  on  three  things — improvement  of 
armament,  that  is,  better  rifles,  guns  and  cannon, 
greater  mobility,  that  is,  speed  of  movement,  com- 
munications, roads  and  railways;  and  last,  num- 
bers of  effective  units  at  the  decisive  point.  An 
air  force  has  two  of  these  elements  developed  to 
a  very  high  degree,  that  is,  mobility  and  power 
of  concentration.  The  armament  is  being  im- 
proved constantly. 

All  military  forces  must  be  organized  accord- 
ing to  a  definite  system  of  numbers  or  hierarchy 
which  ascends  in  the  scale  and  has  appropriate 
commanders  assigned  to  each  unit,  so  that  all 
organizations  may  easily  be  brought  under  the 
will  of  one  supreme  authority.  It  is  a  military 
axiom  that  not  more  than  five  different  things 


34  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

should  be  directed  by  one  individual,  otherwise  he 
will  forget  something  and  disaster  will  result. 
No  organization  should  have  more  than  five  prin- 
cipal parts.  This  is  the  result  of  the  experience 
of  the  great  commanders  in  all  campaigns.  The 
tactical  or  fighting  organization  for  the  different 
branches  of  aviation  has  been  worked  out  by  evo- 
lutionary changes  in  actual  campaign  in  the  air 
battles  of  Europe.  This  tactical  or  fighting  unit 
of  aviation  is  the  group  of  one  hundred  airplanes. 

It  is  divided  into  four  squadrons  of  twenty-five 
airplanes  each,  and  each  squadron  is  divided  into 
three  flights.  The  Air  Force  group  corresponds 
in  a  way  to  the  battalion  which,  in  an  army,  is 
the  fighting  unit  for  the  Infantry.  Two  or  three 
groups  of  airplanes  form  a  wing  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  Infantry  regiment.  Two  or  three 
wings  form  a  brigade  and  two  or  three  air  bri- 
gades form  a  division. 

Air  fighting  is  a  thing  -distinct,  and  entirely  in 
a  class  by  itself.  It  bears  very  little  analogy  to 
fighting  on  the  ground  or  on  the  water,  except 
that  the  general  principles  of  strategy,  and  some 
elements  of  grand  tactics,  are  applied.  At  first 
an  attempt  was  made  during  the  European  War 
to  use  one  class  of  aviation  for  everything,  but 
this  soon  gave  place  to  specialization,  and,  at  the 
end  of  the  War,;  three  branches  of  offensive  avia- 


BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  35 

tion  stood  out  pre-eminently,  which  we  Americans 
denominated  Pursuit  Aviation,  Bombardment 
Aviation  and  Attack  Aviationj  The  fourth,  which 
is  an  auxiliary  and  really  is  used  as  an  insepa- 
rable companion  of  other  organizations,  is  called 
Observation  AviationJ  Observation  squadrons 
and  groups  are  attached  to  the  ground  troops,  to 
navies,  and  to  air  troops  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
serving everything  that  is  necessary  for  their  own 
use ;  that  is,  to  help  them  fight  on  the  ground,  on 
the  water,  or  in  the  air. 

All  branches  of  aviation  depend  on  each  other 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  order  that  they  may 
be  able  to  carry  out  their  functions  in  the  air. 
First,  Pursuit  Aviation  has  to  attack  the  hostile 
Pursuit  Aviation,  and  in  case  it  is  successful,  it 
attacks  the  enemy  Bombardment,  Attack  and  Ob- 
servation Aviation.  Our  own  Observation  cannot 
work  unless  it  is  adequately  protected  by  Pursuit 
Aviation,  against  the  enemy  Pursuit  Aviation; 
and  neither  can  the  Bombardment  or  Attack 
Aviation  operate  alone  against  a  strong  enemy 
force.  In  the  carrying  out  of  each  mission  as- 
signed to  a  particular  branch  of  aviation,  it  is 
necessary  for  them  to  know  just  what  the  other 
branches  are  doing.  For  instance,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  pursuit  commanders  know  what  front  of 
attack  has  been  assigned  to  the  Army  Corps,  how 


36  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

far  the  observation  airplanes  attached  to  the 
ground  troops  must  go  into  the  enemy's  territory 
in  order  to  get  the  necessary  information,  and 
what  part  of  the  line  is  the  most  important  from 
a  military  standpoint,  so  that  in  case  they  are  not 
able  to  defend  every  part  of  the  line,  they  may 
concentrate  and  fight  at  the  most  important  part 
of  it.  Every  change  of  the  troops'  position  must 
be  made  known  to  the  Attack  Aviation,  because 
otherwise  it  might  shoot  up  its  own  troops,  in- 
stead of  attacking  the  most  dangerous  of  the 
enemy's  elements.  At  one  time  in  the  course  of 
the  action,  the  enemy  artillery  may  be  the  most 
dangerous,  at  another  the  enemy  Attack  Aviation, 
the  enemy  infantry,  or  trains  bringing  up  rein- 
forcements. 

The  Bombardment  Aviation  also  must  be  con- 
stantly informed  of  the  position  of  the  troops  so 
as  to  make  no  mistake  and  hit  them  with  the  air 
projectiles  in  case  the  troops  make  a  rapid  ad- 
vance. They  must  always  know  where  the  Pursuit 
Aviation  is,  what -help  can  be  expected  from  it, 
and  what  its  orders  of  the  day  are.  In  fact, 
Bombardment  and  Pursuit  Aviation  always  act 
together  when  in  the  face  of  strong  enemy  op- 
position. 

The  different  branches  of  aviation  are  grouped 
into  certain  organizations,  so  as  to  carry  out  what 


1 

^ 


BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  37 

they  are  designed  to  do.  This,  of  course,  depends 
on  the  particular  military  situation  which  con- 
fronts the  air  force.  This  organization  should 
always  be  as  simple  as  possible,  and  contain  in 
it  all  the  elements  necessary  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  mission.  A  study  -of  our  aeronautical 
needs  in  this  country  leads  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  offensive  aviation  should  be  organized  into 
brigades  that  will  contain  about  60  per  cent  Pur- 
suit Aviation,  20  per  cent  Attack,  20  per  cent 
Bombardment,  a  battalion  of  anti-aircraft  artil- 
lery, a  group  of  anti-aircraft  searchlights,  a 
meteorological  section,  a  communications  com- 
pany, with  the  necessary  air  parks  for  the  supply, 
repair  and  salvage  of  the  equipment  attached  to 
this  brigade.  These  brigades  would  contain  about 
600  airplanes,  and  in  turn  should  be  organized 
into  divisions  of  two  brigades,  which  would  give 
1200  airplanes.  A  study  of  aeronautical  condi- 
tions in  the  world  indicates  that  a  force  of  1200 
airplanes  might  be  deployed  against  us  on  this 
continent  within  two  weeks  after  the  beginning  of 
war,  which  could  be  greatly  increased  very 
rapidly.  An  air  division  as  indicated  above  could 
meet  this  force  on  an  equal  basis.  Two  divisions 
would  insure  its  destruction.  A  French  air  divi- 
sion organized  during  the  World  War,  which 
formed  the  strategical  air  reserve  for  the  Western 


38  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

Front,  was  organized  somewhat  along  this  line. 
Its  effect  on  both  air  and  ground  operations  was 
tremendous  wherever  it  was  used.  Had  the 
French  been  able  to  do  so,  they  would  have 
organized  two  or  more  air  divisions,  but  the 
limitations  of  personnel  and  material  made  it  im- 
possible for  them  to  do  so.  Had  the  Germans 
possessed  a  couple  of  air  divisions  when  they 
broke  through  the  Allied  lines  in  March,  1918, 
the  probability  is  that  they  would  have  won  the 
War  at  that  time.  All  of  the  great  powers  intend 
to  organize  their  aviation  according  to  these 
principles. 

When  operations  are  projected,  all  the  air 
forces  must  be  instructed  in  what  these  are  to  be. 
This  information  is  contained  in  what  is  known 
as  the  aeronautical  plan  of  employment.  It  is 
drawn  up  by  the  commander  of  the  air  forces, 
submitted  to  the  commanding  general  of  the  whole 
forces,  and  is  published  in  the  form  of  orders  by 
the  headquarters.  It  is  the  most  important  docu- 
ment dealing  with  the  air  operations,  and  its  thor- 
ough understanding  by  all  the  air  forces  is 
essential  to  an  efficient  performance  of  their 
duties,  ilhe  plan  of  employment  usually  provides 
for  three  stages  in  the  operations.j  The  first  is  the 
preliminary  stage,  in  which  all  the  information 
possible  is  found  out  about  the  enemy — this  in- 


BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  39 

eludes  photographing  all  of  his  positions,  making 
deep  reconnaissances  into  his  country  so  as  to  see 
where  he  is  accumulating  supplies,  what  capacity 
his  railroad  lines  have,  the  condition  of  his  roads 
and  bridges,  the  amount  of  motor  transport  that 
he  possesses,  where  his  great  stores  of  material 
are  located,  what  they  contain,  and  how  long  it 
would  take  them  to  be  sent  to  the  front.  All  of 
this  work  must  be  done  so  as  not  to  bring  the 
attention  of  the  enemy  to  the  increased  activity 
over  the  sector  of  operations,  because  otherwise 
he  would  not  be  surprised.  At  the  same  time 
this[reconnaissancejis  going  on,  an  absolute  bar- 
ragehas  to  be  kept  against  enemy  reconnaissance 
of  the  same  kind,  so  as  to  prevent  his  gaining 
information  of  our  own  concentrations.  This  is 
particularly  so  at  night,  when  the  maximum 
changes  of  position  take  place,  to  insure  greater 
concealment  from  airplane  observation.  As  the 
airplanes  operate  at  night  as  well  as  in  the  day- 
time, this  is  very  important.  Behind  the  defensive 
barrage  of  Pursuit  Aviation  all  the  friendly/air- 
plane units  are  brought  up  jwithout  exposing  them 
to  view,  concentrated,  and  concealed  on  their 
airdromes.  In  our  preparation  of  the  airdromes 
for  the  attack  in  the  Argonne,  we  put  up  camou- 
flage hangars  on  the  airdromes,  and  camouflage 
airplanes  out  on  the  ground — moving  them  fre- 


40  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

quently  so  as  to  make  the  deception  more  real. 
When  the  time  came  for  the  establishing  of  the 
airdromes,  the  real  hangars  were  put  up  at  night, 
and  the  camouflaged  ones  removed;  while  the 
actual  airplanes  took  the  place  of  the  make-believe 
ones  on  the  ground.  The  communicating  systems 
were  installed  and  all  the  supply  points  for  the 
airplanes,  ammunition,  fuel  and  supplies  of  all 
kinds  were  put  in. 

The  next  stage  in  the  operations  is  the  attack. 
This  may  be  for  a  limited  objective,  or  may  be 
what  is  called  a  penetration — that  is,  one  in  which 
the  ground  armies  attempt  to  break  through  and 
capture  the  enemy's  artillery.  The  air  forces  at- 
tempt to  completely  destroy  the  hostile  air  force 
and  his  airdromes.  When  acting  with  an  army, 
this  stage  of  the  operations  requires  that  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  Pursuit  Aviation  be  used  entirely 
offensively  against  the  enemy's  Pursuit  Avia- 
tion far  back  into  his  country  and  that  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  Pursuit  Aviation  be  assigned  for 
the  immediate  protection  of  the  troops.  The  front 
is  accordingly  divided  off  into  appropriate  sec- 
tors for  pursuit  patrolling  purposes.  In  fact, 
all  the  enemy  territory  is  carefully  gone  over  and 
divided  into  various  sectors,  to  be  constantly 
covered  by  Pursuit  Aviation.  The  total  available 
pursuit  force  is  assigned  for  this  work,  in  accord- 


BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  41 

ance  with  the  numbers  of  this  arm  of  aviation 
that  are  there.  It  must  be  held  in  mind 
that  an  airplane  has  the  power  of  remaining  in 
the  air  only  from  two  and  one-half  to  three  and 
one-half  hours,  in  accordance  with  its  gas  capac- 
ity; then  must  land  and  replenish.  One  must 
always  hold  a  sufficient  reserve  to  meet  any  un- 
foreseen emergencies.  It  can  be  seen,  therefore, 
that  only  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  total  air 
force  can  be  in  the  air  at  any  one  time ;  ordinarily 
not  over  one-third  of  it,  unless  an  action  is  con- 
templated which  requires  a  single  operation,  or 
maybe  two  operations,  during  the  day  which  can 
take  every  airplane. 

The  Bombardment  Aviation  attacks  the  most 
dangerous  target  which  the  enemy  possesses. 
This  may  be  large  concentrations  of  supplies,  far 
removed  from  the  lines,  communications — such  as 
railroads  (particularly  railroad  yards),  bridges, 
either  temporary  or  permanent,  ammunition  de- 
pots, or  cities  or  towns  that  have  been  converted 
for  military  use.  These  bombardment  raids  have 
to  be  protected  by  Pursuit  Aviation,  and  the 
plan  of  employment  prescribes  the  general 
method  by  which  this  will  be  done.  The  plan 
provides  for  the  use  of  the  Attack  Aviation, 
which,  ordinarily,  is  employed  to  attack  enemy 
troops  on  the  ground,  his  artillery,  and  his  trains, 


42  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

along  an  axis  which  controls  the  point  or  points 
which  are  most  vulnerable,  and  which  assist  our 
own  troops  the  most,  In  a  combined  action  be- 
tween air  and  ground  troops,  Attack  Aviation 
facilitates  the  advance  of  the  ground  troops  by 
knocking  out  everything  that  can  be  attacked  from 
the  air  in  front  of  them.  It  attacks  airdromes 
of  the  enemy,  so  as  to  destroy  his  airplanes  and 
airships  while  they  are  still  on  the  ground;  it  is 
especially  useful  against  tanks,  automobiles,  trains 
and  troops.  Again,  Attack  Aviation  has  to  be 
protected  by  pursuit  in  the  accomplishment  of 
its  mission. 

The  plan  of  employment  states  when  the  officers 
at  the  various  air  organizations  shall  assemble 
to  obtain  the  orders  of  the  day,  how  these  orders 
shall  be  transmitted  to  the  organizations  they 
represent,  and  what  reports  shall  be  made  by  each 
organization  during  the  day.  Nothing  is  left  to 
chance,  and  every  phase  of  the  operations  is  care- 
fully thought  out  by  the  air  staff  officers.  A 
similar  method  of  procedure  is  employed  in  air 
operations  against  a  naval  force  over  the  water, 
or  an  air  expedition  acting  alone  against  a  hostile 
air  force  and  country. 

As  a  supplement  to  the  plan  of  employment  of 
an  air  force,  a  complete  plan  of  reconnaissance 
is  drawn  up.  This  is  designed  to  show  what  must 


BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  43 

be  learned  about  the  enemy.  It  lays  stress  on 
the  relative  importance  of  the  various  communi- 
cations behind  the  enemy's  positions;  that  is,  his 
system  of  roads,  railroads,  rivers,  canals,  steam- 
ship lines,  or  any  means  that  he  has  for  moving 
troops  and  equipment,  all  his  industrial  districts, 
all  his  supply  points,  and  even  all  his  mines  and 
factories.  Each  of  these  is  put  down  in  relative 
order  of  importance,  so  that  the  most  difficult 
may  be  reconnoitered  first.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  all  information  in  war  has  to  be  fought 
for,  and  the  work  of  the  observation  squadrons 
in  the  accomplishment  of  these  tasks  is  difficult 
and  requires  most  excellent  handling  to  be 
effective. 

The  Army  Reconnaissance  Air  Group  of  the 
1st  Army,  A.E.F.,  under  Colonel  Reynolds,  was 
the  best  on  the  front  of  any  army.  The  observa- 
tion squadrons  attached  to  the  Army  Corps  are 
required  to  do  all  the  reconnoitering  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  the  troops.  They  make  con- 
tinuous photographs  of  the  whole  area,  both  from 
directly  above  and  obliquely.  The  oblique  photo- 
graphs particularly  are  used  all  the  way  down  to 
the  smallest  organizations  of  troops.  All  the  in- 
formation gained  by  any  observation  units  which 
may  be  useful  to  other  organizations  is  immedi- 
ately sent  to  them. 


44  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

Another  supplement  to  the  plan  of  employment 
is  the  plan  of  bombardment.  This  shows  all  the 
bombardment  targets  that  may  be  attacked,  what 
their  relative  importance  is,  what  size  projectiles 
are  necessary  for  demolishing  them,  at  what 
height  airplanes  have  to  fly  in  the  daytime  in 
order  to  avoid  or  counteract  the  attack  of  the 
enemy,  what  the  routes  to  be  followed  at  night 
are  to  be,  where  the  prohibited  areas  for  bom- 
bardment are,  that  is,  where  airplanes  are  pro- 
hibited from  flying,  so  that  our  own  anti-aircraft 
defense  may  be  used  to  its  fullest  extent.  Thus  the 
anti-aircraft  cannon,  machine  guns  and  balloon 
curtains  may  be  sure  that  all  aircraft  over  them 
are  hostile,  not  being  hindered  by  friendly  air- 
planes. The  plan  of  bombardment  also  prescribes 
the  general  method  which  will  be  used  in  the  em- 
ployment of  Pursuit  and  Attack  Aviation  as  an  aid 
to  bombardment  operations  both  by  night  and 
by  day. 

All  air  forces,  therefore,  have  to  be  entirely 
informed  of  the  operations  and  duty  which  each 
part  is  called  on  to  perform,  and  in  the  successful 
handling  of  an  air  force,  these  are  announced 
every  day  or  several  times  a  day  in  orders  and 
instructions.  Not  only  does  an  air  force  know 
what  each  branch  of  aviation  is  doing  in  the  air 
when  acting  with  an  army  or  with  a  navy,  but  it 


500-  and  1000-Pound  Airplane  Bombs 


BRANCHES  OF  AVIATION  43 

has  to  keep  in  constant  touch  with  everything  that 
is  taking  place  on  the  ground  or  the  water.  The 
airman,  therefore,  not  only  from  his  position  of 
advantage  in  the  sky  looks  down  on  the  whole 
field  of  battle  and  surveys  the  contests  between 
hostile  air  forces  in  the  clouds,  but  he  knows  the 
particular  mission  which  every  distinct  part  of 
the  force,  whether  on  the  ground  or  in  the  air, 
has  had  assigned  to  it.  He  knows  a  great  deal 
about  the  general  operations  and  mission  of  the 
whole  force,  so  that  he  can  act  independently  on 
it  in  case  of  necessity.  Many  times  the  good 
judgment  of  a  lieutenant  pilot  has  changed  the 
whole  aspect  of  an  air  and  ground  battle.  A 
captured  aviator  is  always  very  carefully  ques- 
tioned, because  he  knows  more  about  the  general 
operations  than  any  other  officer  except  the  very 
highest  commanders.  \  The  individual  airman, 
therefore,  bears  more  responsibility  and  requires 
a  higher  tactical  and  strategical  training  than  any 
other  individual  in  the  military  service.^ 


CHAPTER  V 

PUBSUIT  AVIATION 

PURSUIT  AVIATION  is  that  branch  of  aeronautics 
which  is  organized  to  gain  control  of  the  air  by 
air  battles.  It  is  equipped  with  the  fastest,  the 
most  maneuverable,  and  the  best  armed  airplanes 
possible  to  devise.  During  the  War,  the  pursuit 
airplane  became  obsolete  within  three  or  four 
months  after  it  appeared  on  the  front,  its  place 
being  taken  by  the  next  development,  which  was 
a  little  faster,  a  little  more  maneuverable,  and  a 
little  better  armed.  Nothing  can  resist  the  attack 
of  Pursuit  Aviation  properly  handled,  because  it 
utilizes  its  power  of  bringing  flank,  reverse  and 
frontal  fire  in  three  dimensions  to  bear  against 
the  air  force  that  it  is  attacking.  Consequently, 
the  only  aviation  capable  of  challenging  the  su- 
premacy of  Pursuit  Aviation  is  other  Pursuit 
Aviation.  A  large  lumbering  airplane  or  collec- 
tion of  airplanes,  no  matter  how  well  armed,  can- 
not resist  the  surrounding  attack  of  Pursuit 
Aviation. 

46 


PURSUIT  AVIATION  47 

The  speed  of  the  pursuit  plane  is  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  an  hour,  or  more;  it  climbs  to 
20,000  feet  in  twenty  minutes  or  less,  and  it  can 
outmaneuver,  turn  quicker,  dive  faster,  and  zoom 
higher  than  any  other  airplane.  In  fact,  the 
modern  airplane  can  zoom  for  two  thousand  feet 
straight  up  after  it  has  attained  its  maximum 
speed.  The  pursuit  airplane  is  armed  with  not 
less  than  two  machine  guns,  which  fire  all  the  way 
from  seven  to  twelve  hundred  shots  a  minute.  The 
guns  used  in  the  War  were  .30  caliber,  the  same 
as  the  Infantry  rifle  and  machine  gun,  except  that 
they  had  ammunition  especially  made  so  as  to 
prevent  jams  and,  in  addition,  better  suited  to  the 
particular  work  in  hand.  They  utilized  incendiary 
bullets  for  attacking  balloons  and  airplanes, 
tracers,  which  burn  a  whitish  or  brown  smoke  to 
show  where  the  bullets  are  going,  armor-piercing 
bullets  and  the  ordinary  ones.  The  .50  caliber 
machine  gun  is  now  largely  taking  the  place  of 
the  .30  caliber.  This  is  a  great  powerful  weapon 
— it  is  almost  a  small  cannon  in  a  way — which 
can  pierce  any  armor  so  far  devised  for  airplanes. 
It  can  pierce  the  armor  of  tanks  on  the  ground, 
and  no  bullet-proof  gasoline  reservoir  in  an  air- 
plane is  immune  from  its  attack.  The  old  bullet- 
proof rubber  covering  over  gasoline  tanks,  which 


48  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

prevented  fire  and  leaks,  no  longer  does  much 
good. 

The  37  mm.  cannon  has  taken  its  place  per- 
manently as  an  air  weapon.  It  was  used  as  an 
experimental  arm  during  the  War  with  very  good 
results.  It  fires  a  pound  and  a  half  projectile 
which  is  made  up  into  high  explosive  shell,  or- 
dinary shell,  armor  piercing,  incendiary  and  can- 
ister projectiles.  Its  fuse  is  so  sensitive  that 
it  explodes  on  an  impact  with  cloth,  for  the 
attack  of  airships,  and  its  projectiles  are  so 
arranged  that  they  will  explode  themselves  after 
going  a  certain  distance,  so  as  not  to  fall  on  the 
ground  among  friendly  troops  and  explode.  This 
cannon  is  particularly  useful  for  attacking  large 
dirigible  airships  where  great  holes  have  to  be 
torn  in  their  structure  in  order  to  bring  them 
down.  The  small  machine  gun  used  during  the 
War  had  little  effect  on  Zeppelins,  because  the 
bullet  holes  were  not  large  enough,  and  the 
material  of  the  Zeppelin  envelopes  largely  filled 
up  the  apertures  made  by  this  small  weapon. 

In  October,  1917,  I  examined  the  German  air- 
ship L-49,  which  was  brought  down  behind  the 
American  area,  due  to  frozen  engines.  A 
squadron  of  French  airplanes  had  attacked  it 
violently  for  several  thousand  feet  before  it 
landed,  and  had  fired  a  great  many  incendiary 


PURSUIT  AVIATION  49 

air  projectiles  into  it.    These  were  of  .30  caliber 
and  had  little  or  no  effect  on  this  great  structure. 

As  the  machine  guns  have  been  synchronized 
to  shoot  through  the  propellers  of  airplanes,  so 
is  the  attempt  being  made  to  do  the  same  thing 
with  airplane  cannon.  This  so-called  synchroniza- 
tion is  a  device  for  shooting  through  the  area  in 
which  the  propeller  turns,  and  at  the  same  time 
avoiding  hitting  the  propeller.  The  arrangement 
is  very  much  the  same  as  the  cam  system  on  a 
gasoline  motor,  which  opens  and  closes  the  valves 
or  the  distributor  which  makes  the  contact  for 
the  ignition  in  the  various  cylinders.  Larger 
cannon  are  now  being  tried  by  all  nations  for 
installation  in  their  offensive  aviation. 

The  tactics  of  Pursuit  Aviation  may  be  likened 
very  much  to  those  of  Cavalry  in  the  mounted 
attack  in  the  old  days.  The  elements  to  be  utilized 
to  the  greatest  extent  are  surprise,  boldness  of 
action  and  an  attack  in  echelon,  that  is,  successive 
formations  designed  to  envelop  and  surround  the 
enemy  with  a  fire  attack.  This  branch  of  aviation 
calls  for  more  dash,  more  quickness  of  thought, 
and  instant  appreciation  of  tactical  situations  in 
the  air,  than  any  other  military  arm.  When  one 
appreciates  the  swiftness  of  thought  that  is  nec- 
essary to  handle  Cavalry,  which,  at  its  very 
maximum,  cannot  move,  even  when  charging, 


60  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

more  than  about  twenty  miles  an  hour,  then  it 
may  be  imagined  what  qualities  are  necessary  in 
the  Pursuit  Aviation  leader,  when  the  pursuit 
airplanes  move  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
an  hour,  and  dive  at  nearly  double  this  speed, 
with  the  enemy  coming  at  approximately  the  same 
speed,  possibly  surprising  him  or  speeding  against 
him  from  several  directions  at  once. 

During  the  War  we  had  to  transmit  signals  by 
the  personal  example  of  the  leader  of  the  sub- 
division, who  made  motions  with  his  whole  air- 
plane, so  as  to  indicate  direction,  or  swung  his 
wings  sideways,  or  made  slight  changes  of  eleva- 
tion upwards  and  downwards,  to  mean  pre- 
arranged orders  corresponding  to  these  motions. 
Sometimes  the  rocket  signal  was  employed.  Now 
we  are  beginning  to  use  wireless  telephony  be- 
tween airplanes  with  considerable  success. 

Our  Pursuit  Aviation  greatly  distinguished 
itself  in  Europe.  At  Chateau  Thierry,  our  First 
Pursuit  Group,  newly  formed,  was  pitted  against 
the  very  best  pursuit  organizations  in  the  German 
Air  Service.  It  was  a  question  whether  our  men, 
new  at  the  business,  would  have  the  cohesion, 
ability  of  combination,  and  courage  of  the  indi- 
vidual which  the  older  services  had  on  account  of 
their  almost  four  years  of  constant  fighting  on 
the  front. 


PURSUIT  AVIATION  51 

Our  pursuit  was  carefully  trained  according  to 
the  principles  mentioned  above — that  is,  impetu- 
osity of  attack  in  subdivisions,  one  after  another, 
with  a  view  to  surrounding  the  enemy  and  bring- 
ing reverse  or  fire  from  the  rear  to  bear  on 
him ;  that  the  last  formed  reserve  thrown  into  the 
fight  would  win;  that  a  flight  or  unit  of  five  or 
six  airplanes  could  attack  a  single  enemy  unit 
of  three  or  four  times  its  size  which  was  being 
maneuvered  in  one  body  and  throw  it  into  such 
confusion  that  succeeding  flights  could  attack 
them  in  detail,  that  is,  one,  two  or  three  at  a 
time;  that  it  was  better  to  take  fifteen  pursuit 
airplanes  and  fight  them  in  three  flights  of  five 
ships  each  than  fight  all  fifteen  airplanes  in  one 
single  mass. 

At  the  time  we  appeared  at  Chateau  Thierry, 
the  Germans  were  using  large  pursuit  formations 
— fifteen,  twenty  and  thirty  airplanes  in  one  group. 
These  large  German  formations  were  directed  by 
a  single  leader,  and  usually  were  formed  in  a 
"V,M  both  laterally  and  vertically,  so  that  in  a 
way  the  whole  formation  might  be  likened  to  a 
cone  of  airplanes.  Their  object  was  to  attack 
the  hostile  aviation  with  the  nose  of  the  cone, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  spread  around  their  enemy 
with  both  wings  and  envelop  him.  Up  to  this 
time,  this  method  of  attack  by  Pursuit  Aviation 


52  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

was  quite  effective,  particularly  against  two- 
seaters,  or  against  airplanes  that  could  not  maneu- 
ver with  rapidity,  or  did  not  have  an  equal  or 
superior  speed.  We,  however,  formed  our  First 
Pursuit  Group  in  four  squadron^,  and  each 
squadron  in  three  flights — the  basis  of  the  whole 
being  the  flight.  These  were  echeloned  or  arranged 
so  that  each  squadron  made  a  "V"  formation 
by  flights,  each  flight  having  a  different  altitude 
from  the  one  ahead  of  it.  A  maneuver  was  always 
made  so  as  to  take  advantage  of  the  sun,  or  any 
local  conditions  of  wind  or  clouds  that  might 
affect  the  air  battle,  so  as  to  allow  a  surprise  and 
an  attack  against  the  enemy's  rear,  "getting  on 
their  tails"  as  the  saying  was. 

When  the  attack  was  launched,  it  was  made  with 
the  utmost  impetuosity  by  these  formations,  one 
after  the  other.  Success  immediately  crowned 
our  efforts  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  our  men  were 
so  new  at  the  game.  Their  excellence  as  pilots, 
their  remarkable  intelligence  and  their  wonderful 
physical  attributes,  were  a  great  help.  All  of 
our  young  men  in  addition  had  been  trained  in 
such  games  as  football,  baseball  and  other  exer- 
cises calling  for  team  work  and  cohesion,  which, 
at  the  same  time,  required  quick  thought  and  de- 
cision. This  was  invaluable  as  it  gave  a  natural 
spirit  of  discipline  and  combination. 


The  First  American  Pursuit  Machine  Built  by  the  Curtiss  Com- 
pany in  1915 


A  United  States  Pursuit  Airplane.     Speed  of  175  Miles  an  Hour 


PURSUIT  AVIATION  53 

Although  outnumbered  and  pitted  against  the 
best  aviation  in  Europe,  at  Chateau  Thierry  our 
Pursuit  Aviation  rendered  such  a  good  account 
of  itself  and  formed  such  a  basis  for  future  de- 
velopment as  to  leave  no  question  about  its  ex- 
cellence. Our  tactical  system  of  Pursuit  Avia- 
tion was  also  proved  to  be  second  to  none.  This 
was  again  manifested  in  all  subsequent  operations 
of  the  American  Army,  and  the  superiority  of 
our  Pursuit  Aviation  in  organization,  tactics  and 
cohesion  was  rapidly  becoming  a  model  for  this 
branch  of  the  Air  Service. 

All  other  branches  of  military  aeronautics  are 
helpless  without  an  adequate,  strong,  well-trained 
and  well-equipped  Pursuit  Aviation.  Nothing 
can  contest  with  it  for  supremacy  in  the  air.  All 
kinds  of  Bombardment  Aviation  are  completely 
at  the  mercy  of  Pursuit  Aviation.  Observation 
Aviation  cannot  act  without  its  protection,  while 
the  heavily  armored  attack  airplanes,  no  matter 
how  well  protected,  will  be  shot  down  without  the 
assistance  of  Pursuit  Aviation.  No  one  under- 
stands the  necessity  for  this  kind  of  aviation  as 
the  airmen  themselves  do.  The  ground  troops 
think  that  Observation  Aviation  is  the  all-impor- 
tant element,  because  they  are  brought  more 
closely  into  contact  with  it.  They  seldom  see  the 
battles  of  Pursuit  Aviation,  which  take  place 


54  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

thousands  of  feet  up  in  the  air,  and  miles  into 
the  enemy's  country.  It  is  on  these  contests, 
however,  that  the  safety  and  well-being  of  all 
branches  of  aviation  rest ;  whether  the  enemy  will 
be  blinded  in  his  air  reconnaissance,  which  will 
allow  his  troops  to  be  informed  of  every  move; 
whether  his  Bombardment  Aviation  can  drop  the 
huge  projectiles,  which  are  used  to-day,  on  his 
enemy's  troops  and  strategical  centers;  or 
whether  his  Attack  Aviation  can  shoot  up  the  ad- 
vancing columns  of  Infantry  on  the  roads,  or 

destroy  the  tanks,  the  motor  trains  and  railroad   

cars.  Without  an  adequate  and  efficient  Pursuit 
Aviation,  a  nation  is  helpless  in  the  wars  of  to-day. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION 

BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  is  that  branch  which  is 
designed  to  carry  heavy  aerial  projectiles  over 
enemy  targets,  and  drop  them  on  these  places  with 
a  view  to  destroying  the  material  and  killing  the 
personnel. 

Bombardment  Aviation  asserted  itself  more 
and  more  as  the  War  developed.  Several  con- 
siderations governed  its  employment.  In  the  first 
place,  artillery  had  a  useful  range  of  not  more 
than  about  twenty  miles.  Aviation  had  ten  times 
this.  In  the  next  place,  the  War,  as  it  developed 
on  the  Western  Front  of  Europe,  was  not  so  much 
a  question  of  whipping  the  front  line  troops  as 
it  was  a  question  of  whipping  the  reserves,  or 
making  it  impossible  for  them  to  arrive  on  the 
field  of  battle  in  sufficient  time  to  have  an  influence 
on  the  decision.  The  effect  of  interfering  by  air 
bombardment  with  the  delivering  of  supplies  along 
lines  of  communications  was  very  great,  and  also 

55 


56  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  interfering  with  the  manufacture  of  military 
equipment.  This  last  amounted  to  two  different 
things — first,  actually  hitting  and  destroying  the 
factories,  and,  second,  causing,  by  air  bombard- 
ment, such  a  nervous  condition  to  obtain  among 
the  workers  that  their  efficiency  of  production 
would  be  curtailed. 

Bombardment  Aviation,  therefore,  was  devel- 
oped to  fulfill  these  requirements.  It  gradually 
divided  itself  into  what  was  called  Day  Bombard- 
ment and  Night  Bombardment. 

Day  Bombardment  was  used  for  the  purpose 
of  attacking  military  objects  either  on  or  immedi- 
ately contiguous  to  the  field  of  operations,  such 
as  troop  concentration,  convoys  and  railway 
trains.  Its  great  enemy  was  the  hostile  Pursuit 
Aviation  and  the  fire  of  the  anti-aircraft  artillery. 
To  neutralize  the  last,  it  had  to  rise  very  high  in 
the  air,  so  that  the  anti-aircraft  cannon  could  not 
hit  it,  and  to  combat  the  former,  or  hostile  Pursuit 
Aviation,  it  had  to  be  supported  and  at  the  same 
time  covered  by  a  screen  of  friendly  Pursuit 
Aviation,  because  alone  it  was  at  the  mercy  of 
the  hostile  pursuit  units.  As  such  a  high  altitude 
was  required  (from  twelve  to  sixteen  thousand 
feet  or  more)  to  successfully  traverse  the  lines 
and  reach  the  objects  designated  for  attack,  the 
average  Day  Bombardment  airplane  was  able  to 


§• 

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1 


BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  57 

carry  only  from  about  three  hundred  to  five  hun- 
dred pounds  of  bombs. 

Day  Bombardment  Aviation  was  organized  into 
groups  of  one  hundred  airplanes  divided  into 
four  squadrons.  In  this  case  the  squadron  acted 
as  the  unit,  and  consisted  of  twenty-five  airplanes, 
of  which  usually  about  fifteen  to  eighteen  were 
available  for  duty.  These  flew  in  a  "Y"  forma- 
tion, very  much  like  the  flight  of  wild  geese.  This 
formation  had  for  its  object  not  only  its  own 
immediate  protection  by  the  fire  action  of  its 
machine  guns  against  the  attack  of  hostile  avia- 
tion, but  also  the  necessity  for  dropping  bombs 
all  together  so  as  to  get  a  sort  of  a  shot-gun  effect 
on  the  target  which  they  were  attacking.  At  the 
high  altitudes  necessary  in  Day  Bombardment  a 
single  airplane  attacking  an  object  would  have 
very  little  effect,  because  the  ordinary  target  is 
so  hard  to  hit.  The  bombs  were  dropped  by  a 
signal  from  the  leader,  that  is,  the  commander 
of  the  leading  unit  had  an  observer  who  handled 
the  bomb  sights  and  took  all  the  necessary 
measures  for  dropping  the  bombs  at  the  proper 
time  and  place.  All  the  other  observers,  as  the 
airplanes  were  two-seaters,  watched  for  the 
hostile  air  attack,  so  as  not  to  be  surprised.  When 
the  bombs  were  dropped  by  the  leader,  a  signal 
was  made,  and  all  the  other  airplane  pilots 


58  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

dropped  their  bombs  at  the  same  time.    In  this 
way,  a  heavy  collective  effect  was  obtained. 

Day  Bombardment,  in  addition  to  demolishing 
objects,  had  the  effect  of  forcing  the  enemy  to 
defend  with  his  air  forces  the  areas  attacked,  and 
no  better  indication  could  be  found  of  its  effi- 
ciency than  the  great  resistance  which  the  enemy 
would  offer  to  the  Day  Bombardment  Aviation. 

The  Day  Bombardment  branch  kept  increasing 
in  number  of  squadrons,  groups,  wings  and  bri- 
gades. The  greatest  bombardment  attack  ever 
made  occurred  during  our  operations  in  the  Battle 
of  the  Argonne,  when  an  allied  formation  of 
French  and  American  airplanes,  more  than  three 
hundred  in  number,  attacked  an  enemy  concen- 
tration point  at  a  place  called  Eombevilliers, 
about  twenty  miles  northeast  of  Verdun,  where 
the  enemy  was  forming  for  a  counterattack 
against  our  troops  that  had  crossed  the  Meuse 
Eiver.  The  enemy  troops  were  concealed  in 
woods  and  the  small  villages  in  that  vicinity. 
This  formation  arranged  in  squadrons,  groups, 
wings  and  brigades,  went  over  the  lines  in  one 
mass  in  full  view  of  the  whole  American  Army. 
In  spite  of  its  being  engaged  by  the  hostile  Pur- 
suit Aviation,  the  suddenness  of  the  attack  of 
this  air  force  and  the  quickness  with  which  it 
went  to  the  objective,  made  it  impossible  for  the 


BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  59 

enemy  to  combat  them  with  success.  Thirty-nine 
tons  of  bombs  were  dropped  by  this  one  expedi- 
tion on  the  enemy  concentration.  The  counter- 
attack of  the  enemy  ground  forces  did  not  take 
place,  twelve  German  airplanes  were  shot  down 
in  flames  which  were  authenticated,  and,  in  this 
particular  instance,  all  our  own  airplanes  re- 
turned. It  might  be  mentioned  that,  during  the 
twenty-four  hours  covered  by  this  day,  a  total 
of  sixty-nine  tons  of  bombs  were  dropped  on 
enemy  formations  opposing  the  American  Army 
in  the  Argonne.  This  was  a  record  for  bombard- 
ment operations.  As  these  air  projectiles  held 
fifty  per  cent  of  their  total  weight  in  explosive, 
it  will  be  seen  that  over  thirty-four  tons  of  the 
highest  kind  of  explosive  known  were  dropped. 
To  shoot  the  same  amount  of  explosive  over  the 
line  with  artillery  more  than  700  tons  of  cannon 
projectiles  would  be  required. 

In  addition  to  the  material  and  personal  dam- 
age that  these  air  bombardment  attacks  have  on 
an  enemy,  the  moral  effect  on  one's  own  troops 
is  tremendous.  Most  of  the  time  the  ground 
troops  cannot  see  the  air  troops  doing  their  work, 
as  the  air  fights  necessarily  take  place  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  troops  because  the  hostile  air 
forces  have  to  be  sought  out  and  fought  wherever 
tactical  requirements  necessitate  it.  The  ground 


60  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

troops  consequently  get  the  idea  in  many  instances 
that  they  are  abandoned  by  their  aviation,  and 
occasional  glimpses  of  a  mass  of  their  own.  avia- 
tion such  as  mentioned  above,  crossing  the  lines, 
and,  in  spite  of  being  covered  by  the  hostile 
anti-aircraft  artillery  fire  and  attack  of  the  hostile 
air  forces,  proceeding  on  their  mission,  is  indeed 
a  very  inspiring  sight. 

Day  Bombardment  had  to  be  constantly  pro- 
tected by  Pursuit  Aviation.  Many  thought  for  a 
long  time  that  Bombardment  Aviation  could  pro- 
tect itself  by  its  own  fire  in  a  manner  similar  to 
that  employed  by  battleships  on  the  water. 
While,  theoretically,  fire  is  the  best  protection, 
still  the  battleships  maintain  themselves  more  by 
the  thickness  of  their  armor  in  combination  with 
their  fire  than  anything  else ;  of  more  importance, 
however,  is  the  fact  that  the  battleships  act  in 
only  one  dimension,  that  is,  on  top  of  the  water. 
Bombardment  airplanes,  which  have  not  the 
maneuvering  power  of  pursuit,  cannot  resist  the 
rapid  attack  against  them  by  the  pursuit  in  three 
dimensions;  above,  underneath  and  on  the  same 
level,  although  great  loss  may  be  caused  to  the 
enemy. 

Among  the  numerous  examples  illustrating  this 
principle  may  be  mentioned  the  experience  of  one 
of  the  French  Day  Bombardment  squadrons 


BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  61 

which  was  acting  under  my  command  during  the 
battle  of  Saint  Mihiel.  It  will  be  remembered 
that,  at  the  battle  of  Saint  Mihiel,  we  were  attack- 
ing what  we  call  a  salient,  that  is,  the  enemy 
position  projected  into  our  position.  This  gave 
us  the  opportunity  of  attacking  it  from  both 
sides,  and  completely  crossing  over  the  enemy 
position.  Our  aviation,  therefore,  was  so  arranged 
as  to  hit  from  one  side,  and,  as  that  attack  dimin- 
ished in  vigor,  to  attack  from  the  other  side  of 
the  salient,  and,  in  that  way,  catch  the  enemy  in 
reverse,  or,  while  he  was  engaged  in  resisting 
one  attack,  to  come  up  behind  him  with  the  other 
attack.  It  might  be  likened  to  right  and  left 
swings  of  one  boxer  against  another,  while  the 
opponent's  guard  had  been  diverted  in  one  direc- 
tion to  hit  him  from  the  other. 

In  the  carrying  out  of  their  orders,  one  French 
squadron  of  twelve  2-seater  Breguet  airplanes 
(the  best  Day  Bombardment  machine  on  the 
front)  and  protected  by  three  large  3-seater 
Caudron  airplanes  armed  with  six  guns  (the  most 
powerful  single  airplane  then  in  existence)  pro- 
ceeded on  their  mission  to  the  vicinity  of  Con- 
flans,  about  fifteen  miles  within  the  enemy's  line, 
at  a  time  when  our  Pursuit  Aviation  was  not  in 
that  vicinity.  The  squadron  was  supposed  to  be 
with  its  group  but  had  missed  it  in  the  assembly. 


62  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

The  formation  of  the  squadron  was  in  a  "V" 
and  the  large  3-seaters  were  used  one  on  each 
flank  and  one  in  the  opening  of  the  "V"  to  guard 
against  flank  and  rear  attack.  This  squadron 
formed  part  of  the  French  Air  Division  which 
was  a  wonderfully  instructed  corps  of  seasoned 
aviators  who  fought  through  the  whole  War  and 
were  the  reserve  of  the  whole  French  air  force. 
Wherever  a  decision  was  being  called  for  on  the 
front,  there  would  be  found  the  French  Air  Divi- 
sion. This  squadron  was  attacked  in  the  vicinity 
of  Conflans  by  a  group  of  German  Fokker  pur- 
suit airplanes.  All  three  3-seaters  were  shot 
down  in  flames,  and  seven  of  the  twelve  Breguets 
met  a  like  fate.  The  formation  was  never  broken. 
All  the  personnel  of  this  famous  organization 
remained  at  their  post  fighting  in  their  airplanes 
until  burned  up.  They  accounted  officially  for 
twelve  German  Fokkers.  Five  planes,  manned  by 
the  brave  crew  of  this  squadron,  returned  with 
their  airplanes  riddled  with  bullets,  witnesses  to 
the  fact  that  the  principles  of  speed,  maneuver- 
ability and  concentration  of  fire  are  the  things 
that  win  in  any  military  operation. 

Due  to  the  fact  that  Day  Bombardment  Avia- 
tion carried  only  a  limited  amount  of  weight 
because  it  had  to  ascend  so  high  and  get  the 
maximum  speed  possible  to  defend  itself,  bom- 


BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  63 

bardment  began  to  be  carried  out  in  the  night 
with  slower  airplanes,  and  by  the  end  of  the  War, 
specific  units  of  Night  Bombardment  were  organ- 
ized. On  an  ordinary  clear  night,  it  is  almost 
as  easy  for  the  pilot  to  see  the  ground  at  com- 
paratively low  altitudes  as  it  is  in  the  daytime. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  extremely  difficult  for 
anyone  on  the  ground,  or  in  the  air  for  that 
matter,  to  see  hostile  airplanes.  As  a  result,  slow 
airplanes,  which  have  the  ability  of  carrying 
great  weights  of  bombs,  could  be  employed,  and, 
as  the  accuracy  of  striking  an  object  is  directly 
proportional  to  the  distance  you  are  away  from 
it,  great  accuracy  resulted  from  Night  Bombard- 
ment, as  they  could  fly  low  down,  very  close  to  their 
target.  The  Germans  were  especially  adept  and 
relied  very  greatly  on  this  branch  of  aviation, 
their  famous  Gotha  airplanes  being  excellent  ex- 
amples of  the  Night  Bombardment  ships.  They 
used  no  regular  Day  Bombardment  squadrons. 

The  missiles  used  ran  from  200  pounds  up,  the 
500  kilo  or  1200-pound  bomb  being  a  favorite  one 
of  the  Germans.  Some  projectiles  were  used 
weighing  a  ton.  Night  Bombardment  attacks 
were  particularly  severe  against  the  British 
troops,  in  which  great  numbers  of  men  were  killed 
and  wounded  just  back  of  the  actual  field  of 
battle. 


64  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

To  illustrate  the  accuracy  of  a  Night  Bombard- 
ment attack:  the  Germans  singled  out  the  City 
of  Nancy,  which  was  near  the  American  area  in 
France  and  contained  a  great  deal  of  war  mate- 
rial, industrial  establishments,  and  railroad  facili- 
ties. There  was  an  ammunition  factory  within 
the  city  which,  of  course,  was  well  known  to  the 
Germans.  One  night  they  attacked  this  with 
1200-pound  bombs.  The  first  bomb  hit  a  small 
house  facing  the  street  in  front  of  the  factory; 
the  next  bomb  hit  the  corner  of  the  factory,  de- 
molishing that  whole  side  of  it ;  the  third  bomb  hit 
the  middle  of  the  factory  and  completely  de- 
stroyed it.  That  factory  made  no  more  shells 
during  the  rest  of  the  War. 

A  few  nights  after  this,  in  the  same  city,  a 
train  loaded  with  gasoline  and  oils  stood  in  the 
station.  I  saw  the  Germans  hit  this  train  directly, 
blow  it  up,  and  cause  a  fire  which  burned  every- 
thing in  that  vicinity. 

The  Bombardment  Aviation  attacks  in  this 
vicinity  were  so  severe  that  they  caused  the  com- 
plete evacuation  of  this  great  city  by  the  civil 
population.  The  working  people  were  in  such  a 
nervous  state  that  whenever  they  heard  an  air- 
plane or  thought  they  heard  one  they  stopped, 
looked  and  listened.  I  imagine  that  the  productive 
ability  of  that  area  alone  was  reduced  seventy- 


BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  65 

five  per  cent  by  the  action  of  the  German  Night 
Bombardment  ships. 

Corresponding  injuries  were  inflicted  on  the 
Germans,  and  nothing  made  them  cry  louder  than 
the  bombardment  attacks  against  their  centers  of 
production  by  Allied  aircraft.  No  matter  what 
the  propriety  of  such  attacks  may  have  been,  it 
must  be  taken  into  consideration  that  in  the 
World  War  the  Germans  adopted  and  adhered 
to  the  theory  that  with  a  nation  in  arms,  every 
man,  woman  and  child  of  the  hostile  state  is  work- 
ing either  on  the  field  of  battle,  or  in  factories  and 
fields,  to  further  the  object  of  their  armed  forces. 
The  Germans  having  adopted  it,  the  Allies  would 
have  suffered  a  distinct  strategical  disadvantage 
had  they  failed  to  adopt  similar  tactics,  and  on 
the  strength  of  this  precedent  of  the  past  war, 
it  is  probable  that  the  next  war  will  see  the 
original  German  theory  carried  out  to  a  more 
marked  extent. 

On  one  occasion,  a  Night  Bombardment  attack 
against  the  town  of  Longuyon,  about  thirty-five 
miles  opposite  the  American  front  in  the  Argonne, 
resulted  in  the  hitting  of  a  German  ammunition 
train  which  happened  to  be  in  the  station,  to- 
gether with  two  trains  bearing  troops — one  of  the 
troop  trains  going  to  the  front  and  another  of 
troops  on  leave  going  to  the  rear.  It  caused  the 


66  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

ammunition  train  to  blow  up  which  killed  550 
men  in  the  station  alone,  with  a  corresponding 
number  of  wounded. 

At  this  same  place,  at  another  time,  a  Day 
Bombardment  attack  which  missed  the  town  hit 
among  the  troops  of  a  division  which  was  drilling 
at  a  short  distance  from  the  city,  killed  over  200 
men,  and  wounded  a  corresponding  number. 

The  efficiency  of  Bombardment  Aviation,  both 
in  its  attacks  against  ground  troops  and  against 
navies,  is  increasing  rapidly,  and,  like  other 
branches  of  aviation,  is  merely  in  its  development 
state. 

Whenever  an  attack  of  a  military  object  depends 
on  an  explosive,  an  aerial  bomb  attack  is  the 
most  efficient,  because  air  projectiles  carry  a 
greater  proportion  of  explosives  than  any  other 
missile  (roughly,  one-half  their  weight).  A  500- 
pound  bomb  carries  250  pounds  of  explosive;  a 
1000-pound  bomb,  500  pounds  of  explosive ;  a  3000- 
pound  bomb  holds  1500  pounds  of  explosive. 
Compared  to  other  projectiles,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing: The  16-inch  armor  piercing  cannon  pro- 
jectile carries  about  55  pounds  of  explosive.  The 
projectiles  weigh  more  than  one  ton.  The  sub- 
marine mines  used  for  harbor  defense,  weighing 
from  1200  to  1700  pounds,  carry  about  200  pounds 
of  explosive.  Water  torpedoes  range  from  about 


BOMBARDMENT  AVIATION  67 

200  pounds  of  explosive  with  a  1500-pound  torpedo, 
to  about  700  pounds  with  a  3000-pound  torpedo. 
The  accuracy  of  bombing  depends  entirely  upon 
the  distance  to  the  target.  If  hostile  aviation 
and  anti-aircraft  defenses  can  be  subdued  by  the 
action  of  Pursuit  and  Attack  Aviation,  by  being 
able  to  fly  low,  objects  on  the  ground  or  on  the 
water  can  be  hit  with  great  accuracy.  A  pro- 
jectile from  a  cannon  or  a  torpedo  is  limited,  in 
the  case  of  the  cannon,  to  something  like  60,000 
yards;  in  the  case  of  the  torpedo  to  about  one- 
tenth  of  this  distance.  A  modern  bombardment 
airplane  can  go  out  200  miles  and  come  back 
again  with  its  load,  and  still  have  a  reserve  of 
200  or  more  miles  of  flight. 

The  Army  has  recently  tested  an  airplane 
which  shows  that  it  can  carry  5000  pounds  of 
bombs  with  a  total  flying  capacity  of  about  800 
miles. 

As  to  expense,  the  present  bombardment  air- 
plane, with  all  its  accessories,  would  cost  about 
$80,000,  much  less  if  produced  in  great  numbers. 
Compared  to  this,  the  present  16-inch  gun,  with 
its  mounts,  costs  $500,000.  The  present  battle- 
ship, with  its  accessories,  costs  about  $45,000,000. 
A  single  1000-pound  bomb  striking  in  the  water 
within  60  feet  of  a  battleship  will  greatly  injure 
it  or  put  it  out  of  line  so  that  it  will  become  an 


68  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

easy  object  for  attack.  A  bomb  hitting  on  tHe 
decks  of  a  battleship  will  put  it  out  of  action  or 
completely  destroy  and  sink  it. 

Many  other  weapons  containing  chemical  com- 
pounds, smoke  screens,  and  brilliant  lights,  are 
being  used  for  the  attack  of  shipping.  All  ships 
can  be  sunk  with  ease,  except  armored  vessels. 
Up  to  the  present  no  particularly  continuing  at-1 
tempt  has  been  made  to  complete  all  the  arma- 
ment arrangements  for  this  purpose.  War  vessels 
must  be  used  as  targets  and  a  consistent  effort 
made.  When  this  has  been  done  naval  vessels 
will  not  be  able  to  play  the  part  they  have  in 
past  wars,  unless  completely  protected  by  air- 
craft. No  anti-aircraft  artillery  or  searchlight 
arrangements  on  war  vessels  can  keep  airplanes 
away,  because  these  defenses  either  can  be  made 
ineffective  by  smoke  screens,  neutralized  by 
counter-attacks  from  the  air  or  totally  disre- 
garded. The  warship  is  therefore  doomed  to 
certain  destruction  at  the  hands  of  Bombardment 
Aviation. 


*  CHAPTER  VII 


ATTACK  AVIATION 

THE  third  and  newest  Arm  of  Aviation  is 
called  Attack,  in  the  United  States  Service. 
Again  we  have  to  give  the  Germans  the  credit 
for  initiating  this  as  a  separate  branch.  Its 
specific  mission  is  to  attack  troops,  trains  of 
automobiles,  convoys,  railroad  trains,  tanks,  de- 
barkations from  trains,  ships  or  vessels,  war- 
ships, or  any  military  object  on  the  ground  or 
the  water  which  exposes  itself  to  attack  from  the 
air  by  cannon,  machine  guns,  or  light-weight 
bombs. 

Attack  Aviation  works  at  low  altitudes.  It  is 
especially  developed  to  scatter  and  retard  ad- 
vancing columns  of  troops  and  tanks,  artillery; 
to  wreck  deployments  of  troops;  to  attack  ma- 
chine-gun nests,  hostile  airdromes,  and  anything 
that  it  is  capable  of  getting  at.  A  flaming  bullet 
from  a  .50  caliber  machine  gun  will  set  the  gaso- 
line tank  of  a  truck  or  a  motor  car  in  flames 
instantly.  Artillery  in  position,  and  particularly 


>0  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  horses  or  the  motors  of  this  Arm  of  the 
Service  are  very  good  targets  for  airplane  attack. 
The  tactics  of  this  Arm  of  the  Service  are  to 
determine  where  the  hostile  element  to  be  attacked 
is  to  be  found;  then  to  go  there  at  very  low  alti- 
tudes, one  or  two  hundred  feet  above  the  ground, 
utilizing  whatever  concealment  offers  itself  in  the 
way  of  woods,  high  banks,  hills,  mountains,  smoke 
clouds,  or  screens  of  other  airplanes.  The  attack 
is  made  with  suddenness  and  with  every  element 
of  surprise  that  is  possible.  A  succession  of 
attacks  is  necessary,  one  after  the  other,  for  the 
reason  that  Infantry  on  the  road,  advancing, 
immediately  conceals  itself  by  getting  off  the  road 
and  hiding  when  attacked  in  this  manner.  As 
soon  as  the  airplanes  leave,  the  Infantry  gets 
back  on  the  roads  and  proceeds  on  its  march.  It 
is  then  that  it  should  be  pounced  on  by  the  next 
echelon  of  Attack  Aviation.  During  the  war, 
airplanes  completely  held  up  moving  columns  of 
troops  in  many  cases.  In  fact,  during  one  stage 
of  the  Battle  of  Cambrai  during  a  German 
counter-attack,  British  Aviation  attacking  the 
German  troops  on  the  ground  held  alone  and  un- 
aided a  whole  section  of  front  for  more  than  an 
hour,  until  reserve  troops  came  up.  Motor  trains, 
Cavalry  on  the  march,  and  other  moving  objects 
act  in  a  similar  manner  while  traveling  along 


ATTACK  AVIATION  71 

roads,  so  that  the  principle  of  attacking  objects 
on  the  ground  with  this  branch  of  aviation  is  to 
cause  one  flight  to  attack  after  the  other,  suc- 
cessively, and  with  a  sufficient  interval  of  time  to 
enable  whatever  target  they  are  working  against 
to  expose  itself  again. 

In  the  Argonne  Battle  of  1918,  the  Germans 
had  just  organized  their  "  battle  flights "  as  they 
were  called.  They  did  not  have  very  many  of 
them,  and  their  last  type  of  armored  airplanes 
was  only  beginning  to  come  up.  When  our  ground 
troops  attacked,  the  congestion  behind  our  center 
was  terrible.  The  roads  leading  up  to  Mont- 
faucon  were  clogged  with  transportation  and  all 
the  things  that  go  behind  an  army  to  an  extent 
seldom  seen  on  a  battlefield.  This  mass  of  trans- 
port did  not  move  in  some  cases  for  thirteen 
hours,  and  offered  a  wonderful  target  for  Attack 
Aviation.  Had  these  motor  trains  been  destroyed 
and  had  the  Germans  counter-attacked  at  the 
same  time,  the  whole  position  of  the  American 
Army  would  have  been  critical.  The  Germans 
appreciated  it  at  once,  and  immediately  took  ad- 
vantage of  it  with  their  aircraft.  Our  own  air 
forces  knew  what  they  would  attempt  before  they 
tried  it,  because  it  was  seen  from  the  air  as 
soon  as  it  had  happened.  They  also  knew  that 
without  pursuit  protection,  their  battle  flights 


72  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

could  not  exist  against  our  pursuit  attack.  To 
counter  their  move,  we  threw  our  Day  Bombard- 
ment and  big  bodies  of  pursuit  planes  into  the 
enemy's  territory  to  fight  them  on  their  own 
ground  and  keep  them  back  from  our  territory. 
In  addition  to  this,  we  detailed  one  group  of 
pursuit — the  First  Pursuit  Group — to  fly  at  a 
low  altitude  for  the  specific  purpose  of  engaging 
the  German  Attack  Aviation  when  it  came  over. 
This  system  of  defense  against  Attack  Aviation 
had  never  been  tried  with  success  on  the  Western 
Front.  Our  First  Pursuit  Group  made  a  com- 
plete success  of  it. 

As  the  attack  airplanes  were  painted  a  color 
similar  to  the  ground,  our  own  pursuit  patrols 
saw  them  with  great  difficulty.  They  could  be 
seen,  however,  from  the  anti-aircraft  posts  on 
the  ground,  and  our  system  was  so  arranged  that 
the  anti-aircraft  artillery  would  fire  on  them  the 
minute  it  saw  them,  to  act  as  a  signal  for  our 
own  pursuit  patrols  who  would  immediately  as- 
semble in  the  direction  of  the  bursting  projectiles 
from  the  anti-aircraft  artillery,  see  the  hostile 
Attack  Aviation,  and  immediately  engage  it. 

During  the  month  of  October,  our  First  Pursuit 
Group,  with  the  aid  of  the  anti-aircraft  artillery, 
worked  so  successfully  that  they  inflicted  a  loss 


ATTACK  AVIATION  73 

of  one  hundred  and  ten  victories  against  the 
Germans  to  a  loss  of  only  ten  airplanes  in  this 
organization.  With  our  tactics  of  keeping  the 
German  Pursuit  Aviation  heavily  engaged  on 
their  own  side  of  the  lines,  we  had  made  it  im- 
possible for  them  to  protect  their  Attack  Avia- 
tion, which  then  allowed  our  Pursuit  Aviation 
an  unhampered  opportunity  to  fight  them  wher- 
ever they  found  them. 

This  illustrates  again  the  necessity  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Attack  Aviation  against  hostile 
pursuit.  Had  the  Germans  been  successful  with 
their  Attack  Aviation  against  our  moving  columns 
and  transport  on  the  roads  behind  our  center 
leading  up  to  Montf aucon  and  beyond,  our  move- 
ment in  this  direction  would  have  been  stopped. 

Modern  attack  airplanes  carry  a  cannon  and 
six  or  eight  machine  guns.  They  have  armor  all 
over  their  vital  parts,  sufficient  to  withstand  the 
fire  of  rifles  and  machine  guns  from  the  ground. 
The  attack  of  these  airplanes  is  imposing.  Think 
of  a  battery  of  six  machine  guns  firing  at  once. 
Say  that  the  machine  gun  fires  only  six  hundred 
shots  a  minute  (some  fire  up  to  twelve  hundred 
a  minute) ;  with  six  guns  you  have  thirty-six 
hundred  shots  per  minute.  During  a  minute,  the 
airplane  covers  about  one  and  a  half  to  two  miles 


74  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  ground;  six  of  these  airplanes  then  will  de- 
liver about  twenty-one  thousand  shots  per  minute, 
and  the  cannon,  which  are  able  to  fire  at  the  rate 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  shots  a  minute  divided 
into  groups  of  ten  shots  each,  will  be  able  to  add 
to  this.  In  addition,  these  airplanes  carry  from 
ten  to  twenty  fragmentary  bombs  that  are  par- 
ticularly useful  against  personnel,  trains  and 
artillery. 

Now,  take  a  group  of  these  airplanes,  consisting 
of  four  squadrons  of  three  flights  each,  or  one 
hundred  airplanes,  detailed  to  attack  a  column 
of  troops  on  the  road,  and  one  can  easily  imagine 
the  great  effect  which  Attack  Aviation  will  have. 

One  German  airplane  attacked  a  railway  train 
behind  the  British  lines  which  was  filled  with  men 
going  to  the  rear  and  who  had  practically  no  arms 
with  them.  It  flew  along  beside  the  train,  and 
is  said  to  have  killed  and  wounded  about  two 
hundred  men  single-handed.  This  was  an  or- 
dinary observation  type  ship. 

These  armored  airplanes  would  be  especially 
efficacious  against  troops  debarking  from  war- 
ships, transports,  or  against  a  poorly  organized 
enemy  that  has  a  weak  aviation  and  a  poorly 
developed  system  of  anti-aircraft  artillery.  In 
fact,  in  some  instances,  these  airplanes,  due  to 


ATTACK  AVIATION  75 

their  defensive  ability,  may  land  on  the  ground 
and  engage  in  battle  with  troops  directly. 

The  three  branches  of  Aviation  mentioned  above 
constitute  the  offensive  power  of  an  air  force. 
They  all  work  together,  and  are  interdependent. 


CHAPTER 

OBSEBVATION  AVIATION 

THIS  title  is  given  to  the  branch  of  Aviation  that 
works  as  an  auxiliary  of  other  services,  such  as 
an  army,  a  navy,  or  an  air  force.  There  are  a 
great  many  sub-divisions  in  Observation  Avia- 
tion. It  is  the  first  branch  of  aviation  which 
was  developed  during  the  War.  It  is  the  best 
known  of  all  branches  of  aviation,  but  at  the  same 
time,  as  it  requires  such  an  intimate  co-operation 
between  the  observation  squadrons  and  the 
ground  troops,  it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  to 
bring  to  the  necessary  high  standard  in  war,  on 
account  of  the  many  elements  that  have  to  work 
together  to  make  it  efficient. 

The  mission  of  Observation  Aviation  is  to  find 
out  and  report  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
troops  to  which  it  is  attached  what  is  in  front  of 
him,  and  in  his  vicinity.  This  is  done  in  two 
ways;  first,  by  visual  reconnaissance,  where  the 
airplane  goes  out,  looks  over  the  ground,  observes 
what  is  taking  place  there,  and  comes  back  and 

76 


I 


OBSERVATION  AVIATION  77 

reports;  and  next,  by  photography.  The  front 
of  an  army  is  always  divided  into  certain  sectors 
that  are  kept  under  the  eye  of  the  observer.  On 
account  of  the  fact  that  airplanes  are  forced  to 
fly  at  a  great  altitude,  where  it  is  difficult  to  see 
details  on  the  ground,  photography  has  played 
a  more  and  more  important  part  in  this  work, 
so  that  now  each  prominent  part  of  a  battlefield, 
every  road  and  cross-road,  every  wood  and  ravine, 
and  all  entanglements  and  trenches  are  immedi- 
ately photographed  and  plates  are  brought  back 
and  developed  in  the  photographic  section  of  the 
observation  squadrons,  printed,  properly  marked 
as  to  their  location  on  the  maps,  and  distributed 
to  the  organizations  for  whose  use  they  are  in- 
tended. Ordinarily,  in  Europe,  each  plate  that 
was  exposed  had  to  have  about  eighty-five  photo- 
graphic prints  made  of  it  instantly  for  distribu- 
tion, and  before  an  attack  the  photographic  sec- 
tions turned  out  thousands  of  these  negatives  and 
prints  every  day.  They  worked  day  and  night. 
Not  only  did  they  take  vertical  pictures,  but  also 
oblique  pictures,  because  the  ordinary  person,  not 
expert  in  the  interpretation  of  vertical  photo- 
graphs, does  not  get  the  same  impression  as  he 
does  from  an  oblique  picture,  which  gives  the 
appearance  of  having  been  taken  from  some  high 
building,  hillside  or  tower. 


78  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

The  next  duty  of  Observation  Aviation  deals 
with  the  adjustment  of  fire  of  artillery  or  other 
missile-throwing  weapons.  This  really  is  the 
easiest  duty  in  many  ways,  of  Observation  Avia- 
tion. Communication  is  maintained  between  the 
air  and  the  batteries  of  .artillery  by  radio  teleg- 
raphy. The  observers  are  in  constant  touch  with 
the  artillery  organizations  with  which  they  work 
while  they  are  on  the  ground  so  that  they  under- 
stand intimately  how  the  artillery  works  and 
fights.  There  are  three  general  conditions  under 
which  artillery  fire  is  conducted :  where  the  artil- 
lery is  in  position  and  the  object  to  be  fired  at 
remains  in  one  place;  where  the  artillery  is  in 
position  and  the  object  to  be  fired  at  is  moving — 
a  fugitive  target  as  we  called  it;  and  where  the 
artillery  is  moving  and  the  object  to  be  fired  at 
is  also  changing  position — this  we  called  a  fleet- 
ing target. 

The  method  used  of  working  with  the  gun  is 
for  the  airplane  to  be  detailed  to  work  with  a 
certain  battalion  of  artillery.  The  observer 
knows  where  the  battalion  is  located,  and  the 
wave  length  to  be  used  by  his  radio  apparatus 
has  been  prescribed.  He  is  furnished  with  maps 
and  photographs  of  the  area  over  which  he  is 
working.  He  sees  that  all  his  equipment  is  in 
proper  condition  before  taking  off  from  his  air- 


OBSERVATION  AVIATION  79 

drome.  As  he  circles  the  field  at  an  altitude  of  a 
few  thousand  feet,  he  calls  his  own  ground  station 
with  his  radio  apparatus  to  see  that  it  is  func- 
tioning properly  and  that  it  has  the  proper  wave 
length.  He  is  then  told  to  go  ahead  by  his 
squadron  or  group  radio  station.  This  is  called 
checking  out.  When  he  picks  up  the  target,  he 
calls  the  artillery  battalion  and  says  that  he  is 
ready  to  begin  the  fire.  The  fire  is  then  begun, 
and,  if  he  uses  what  we  call  a  system  of  co- 
ordinate adjustment,  he  reports  whether  the  shots 
are  falling  to  the  right  or  the  left — over  or  short 
of  the  target.  For  instance,  one  hundred  yards 
to  the  right  and  fifty  yards  short;  three  hundred 
yards  to  the  left  and  five  hundred  yards  over, 
and  so  on. 

Of  course,  in  this  work,  everything  depends  on 
the  efficiency  of  the  wireless  apparatus,  and  not 
only  that,  but  in  having  the  operators  constantly 
at  their  post.  Many  amusing  and  really  tragic 
instances  of  the  neglect  of  having  the  operators 
at  their  posts  occurred  during  the  campaign.  In 
one  case,  it  was  reported  to  me  that  we  had  been 
unable  to  raise  a  certain  battalion  of  artillery 
for  a  long  time,  and  that  the  First  Sergeant  of 
the  battery,  which  contained  a  ground  station, 
had  put  the  operators  on  kitchen  police  because 
he  said  that  all  they  had  done  for  several  days 


80  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

was  to  sit  in  a  little  hole  in  the  ground  with  things 
on  their  ears,  doing  nothing,  while  the  strong 
men  in  the  battery  were  doing  their  work.  He 
could  not  see  that  this  did  any  good.  Gradually, 
the  feeling  of  the  men  was  overcome  by  education 
and  the  instruments  began  to  work  better. 

With  the  fugitive  and  fleeting  targets,  the  air- 
planes cover  a  certain  sector  and  are  relieved  one 
after  the  other  so  as  to  keep  the  area  constantly 
in  view.  Certain  artillery  battalions  are  detailed 
for  this  sort  of  work,  and  are  supposed  to  be  ready 
the  instant  they  are  called  on  to  turn  their  fire 
in  the  direction  indicated  by  the  aerial  observer. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  adjustment  of  fire  means 
a  virtual  command,  of  the  artillery  from  the  air, 
as  it  lies  in  the  hands  of  the  observer  to  tell  what 
kind  of  fire  is  having  the  most  effect,  what  is 
the  most  dangerous  target,  and  when  the  fire 
should  begin  and  cease. 

Artillery  can  very  seldom  see  the  target  that 
it  is  firing  at.  The  guns  are  aimed  by  means  of 
auxiliary  aiming  points — that  is,  a  certain  object, 
such  as  a  tree,  a  church-steeple,  the  side  of  a 
house,  or  a  stake,  is  selected  to  aim  at  for  the 
sights,  and  the  sights  are  arranged  so  as  to  cause 
the  gun  to  be  pointing  at  the  actual  target  when 
the  auxiliary  aiming  point  is  held  in  the  sights 
of  the  cannon.  The  only  personnel  who  can  see 


OBSERVATION  AVIATION  81 

where  the  shots  are  actually  hitting,  therefore, 
are  the  aerial  observers,  who  are  really  the  ones 
on  whom  the  whole  efficiency  of  artillery  work  of 
precision  depends. 

The  third  and  most  difficult  class  of  Observa- 
tion Aviation  is  what  is  called  the  Infantry  or 
liaison  plane.  This  consisted  in  flying  low  over 
the  Infantry  during  the  heat  of  the  combat, 
through  the  barrage  of  both  friendly  and  hostile 
artillery  and  often  machine  gun  and  rifle  fire,  to 
find  out  and  report  the  position  of  the  troops  and 
indicate  to  the  troops  themselves  what  was  in 
their  immediate  front,  sometimes  to  carry 
ammunition  and  food  to  them,  and,  whenever 
possible,  to  aid  them  by  firing  on  the  enemy 
troops  from  the  airplanes  themselves. 

During  the  heat  of  an  action,  the  front  Infantry 
lines  cannot  communicate  back  to  their  com- 
manders or  supports  on  account  of  the  hostile 
artillery  and  rifle  fire.  Oftentimes,  it  is  difficult 
for  the  artillery  to  tell  where  their  own  front 
infantry  line  is,  so  that,  in  many  instances,  they 
might  fire  into  their  own  troops.  The  only  method 
of  keeping  track  of  these  lines  is  by  means  of  the 
airplane.  The  infantry  airplane  was  assigned  to 
a  certain  organization  of  troops  for  the  day.  A 
certain  kind  of  a  rocket  would  be  designated  to 
be  the  distinguishing  call  for  a  specified  organ- 


82  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

ization  of  troops;  for  instance,  three  white  balls, 
or  two  white  ones  and  a  red,  or  some  other  com- 
bination to  be  fired  from  the  airplane.  The  air- 
plane usually  carried  a  streamer  attached  to  one 
of  its  struts  so  as  to  identify  it  to  the  infantry. 
In  some  cases,  the  number  of  the  division  was 
painted  on  the  bottom  of  the  airplane.  The  air- 
plane observer  would  locate  the  infantry  by 
actually  seeing  where  the  men  were,  and  would 
fire  its  rocket,  calling  for  the  infantry  signals. 
These  consisted  of  panels  or  square  pieces  of 
cloth,  which  each  infantryman  carried,  and  which 
were  supposed  to  be  spread  on  the  ground,  hori- 
zontally, in  plain  view  of  the  airplane.  If  they 
were  in  woods,  the  infantry  was  provided  with 
a  smoke-producing  compound  called  Bengal  fires 
which  they  lighted. 

A  great  deal  of  educational  work  Had  to  be 
done  among  the  troops  to  make  them  show  these 
signals,  because  they  supposed  that,  by  showing 
sigiiaxs  to  our  own  air  men,  they  would  be  dis- 
closing their  position  to  the  enemy.  This  belief 
was  very  strong,  not  only  with  our  troops,  but 
with  the  French,  British  and  Germans  in  the  be- 
ginning, and  the  way  this  was  overcome  was  to 
send  the  troops  to  the  airdromes,  show  them  how 
the  work  was  done,  and  actually  take  some  of  them 
up  in  the  air  so  as  to  let  them  see  for  themselves 


OBSERVATION  AVIATION  83 

;what  the  result  was  and  make  them  thoroughly 
understand  that,  if  the  panels  were  not  shown, 
reinforcements  could  not  get  to  them,  our  own 
artillery  fire  could  not  help  them,  and  that  sup- 
plies of  all  sorts  could  not  reach  them.  It  was 
especially  important  to  instruct  the  infantry  non- 
commissioned officers  in  this  respect  as  the  or- 
dinary soldier  is  brought  into  much  closer  touch 
with  them  than  with  his  officer.  Toward  the  end 
of  the  War,  some  of  our  Divisions,  notably  the 
First,  Second  and  Forty-second,  became  very 
expert  in  the  handling  of  their  panels,  and  a  rocket 
from  an  airplane  would  immediately  be  followed 
by  a  display  of  a  mile  or  two  of  panels.  In  the 
beginning,  many  of  our  commanders  called  for 
marking  of  the  lines  too  often  in  the  day,  which 
made  the  troops  become  thoroughly  tired  of  show- 
ing their  panels  every  few  minutes.  Ordinarily, 
four  times  a  day  is  a  great  sufficiency — once. im- 
mediately after  daylight;  again  about  eleven 
o'clock;  about  two  o'clock,  and  just  before  dark. 
Another  kind  of  Observation  Aviation  was  at- 
tached to  the  Army  Headquarters,  and  was  used 
entirely  for  long  distance  reconnaissance  into  the 
enemy's  lines.  This  went  thirty  and  forty  miles, 
and  sometimes  greater  distances,  into  the  enemy's 
country,  photographed  their  main  lines  of  com- 
munication, their  centers  of  supply,  their  con- 


84  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

centration  points,  ammunition  depots,  their 
bridges  and  railroad  yards.  By  this  means  a 
very  accurate  estimate  could  be  made  as  to  where 
the  hostile  army  was  concentrated.  Army  Ob- 
servation became  so  keen  and  was  such  a  sure 
indication  of  what  the  enemy  troops  were  doing, 
in  spite  of  all  concealment  on  both  sides,  that  the 
end  of  1917  marked  the  end  of  all  troop  move- 
ments in  the  European  theater  during  the  day. 
Thereafter  all  movements  of  concentration  were 
made  at  night,  and,  in  their  great  attack  of 
March,  1918,  against  the  Fifth  British  Army,  the 
Germans  formed  their  whole  position  under  cover 
of  night,  and  made  a  great  surprise  and  caused 
the  destruction  of  the  troops  opposed  to  them. 
Aviation  was  not  long  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
new  conditions  of  troops  moving  at  night.  Night 
reconnaissance  became  a  set  practice  by  the 
Summer  of  1918.  Airplanes  covered  all  parts  of 
the  continguous  enemy  territory,  marked  down 
on  their  map  every  fire,  every  movement,  and 
every  suspicious  looking  column  they  saw.  Para- 
chute flares  would  be  thrown  down  over  the  hostile 
moving  troops,  and  their  locations  discovered. 
This  was  so  well  done  by  the  French  Aviation 
that,  in  July,  1918,  it  was  told  ahead  of  time 
exactly  where  the  German  attack  was  going  to  be 


s 

£ 


OBSERVATION  AVIATION  85 

in  the  Chateau  Thierry  salient,  and  it  was  pre- 
dicted to  within  a  few  hours.  Existing  records 
which  were  made  up  day  by  day  show  the  de- 
velopment of  the  German  concentration  of  troops 
on  each  day  preceding  this  attack.  Major  Paul 
Armengaud  of  the  French  Air  Service  collected 
and  maintained  this  record  at  Marshal  Foch's 
headquarters  at  Bombon. 

Another  distinct  branch  of  Observation  Avia- 
tion is  what  is  called  Surveillance.  These  are  the 
airplanes  that  remain  over  hostile  positions — or 
off  a  coast-line  for  instance — and  report  back  by 
wireless  what  they  see.  In  other  words,  they  pick 
up  the  object  they  are  looking  for,  and  remain 
in  observation  of  it.  This  is  an  extremely  difficult 
and  hazardous  task,  and  the  fastest  and  highest 
flying  planes  have  to  be  used  for  this  purpose. 

As  is  the  case  with  the  other  branches  of  Avia- 
tion, the  Observation  Air  Service  has  to  act  be- 
hind an  efficient  screen  of  pursuit  protection.  It 
is  a  branch  where  the  most  precise  methods  have 
to  be  used  in  gaining  the  information,  in  writing 
it  down,  and  in  reporting  it,  and  the  most  in- 
timate touch  has  to  be  kept  with  the  organizations 
to  which  they  are  assigned,  that  is,  to  the  Divi- 
sions, Army  Corps,  Armies,  Air  Forces,  or 
Navies.  It  is  the  branch  which  has  to  be  entirely 


86  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

specialized  for  these  services  as  distinguished 
from  the  offensive  air  forces  that  fight  in  the  air 
and  whose  tactics  are  similar,  no  matter  whether 
they  be  over  the  ground  or  over  the  water. 


CHAPTER  IX 

BALLOONS 

BALLOONS  of  various  kinds  have  been  experi- 
mented with  and  tried  for  many  hundred  years. 
They  appeared  in  organized  units  of  troops  with 
the  French  Eevolutionary  Army  in  1792,  filled 
with  hydrogen  gas,  and  used  for  almost  the  same 
purposes  that  they  are  now.  They  have  gone 
through  many  evolutionary  changes  in  construc- 
tion, equipment  and  maintenance,  but  they  all 
have  consisted  of  a  gas  bag  filled  with  hydrogen, 
a  rope  or  cable  attaching  them  to  the  ground, 
and  winches  of  some  kind  for  maneuvering  them 
up  and  down,  provisions  for  communicating  with 
the  earth,  and  a  basket  for  one  or  two  observers. 

During  our  Civil  War,  the  Union  Army  began 
using  captive  balloons  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  in  1862,  in  its  Peninsula  Campaign,  and, 
in  fact,  it  was  here  that  Count  Zeppelin,  then  a 
Lieutenant  of  the  Prussian  Cavalry,  and  acting 
as  military  observer  on  General  McClellan's  staff, 
first  obtained  his  ideas  of  navigating  the  air. 

87 


88  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

During  the  recent  European  War,  the  model 
of  balloon  used  by  all  was  one  developed  by  a 
French  Officer — Major  Caquot.  This  balloon 
was  very  stable  in  the  air,  could  be  used  up  to 
4000  feet  in  any  ordinary  weather,  and,  with  the 
excellent  automobile  winches,  it  could  be  maneu- 
vered at  any  time.  It  was  a  principle  with  the 
balloon  companies  that  they  needed  no  shelter 
for  their  balloons  except  what  they  could  erect 
themselves  very  quickly  from  material  to  be 
found  in  the  woods  or  brush,  so  that  they  needed 
no  hangars.  The  balloons  were  an  inseparable 
companion  of  the  Infantry  Divisions.  They 
formed  elevated  and  fixed  platforms  from  which 
observation  could  be  continued  both  by  day  and 
night  if  necessary,  and,  as  they  were  in  constant 
communication  with  the  ground  through  their 
telephone  centrals,  they  could  be  connected  with 
the  organizations  of  troops,  both  of  the  Artillery, 
Infantry  and  Headquarters.  They  were  espe- 
cially good  in  adjusting  the  fire  of  the  large  short 
range  Howitzers,  six  and  eight  inch,  and  were 
invaluable  in  observing  movements  within  our 
own  lines,  within  the  lines  of  the  enemy,  and  im- 
mediately behind  the  enemy 's  front.  Their  range 
of  vision  in  good  weather  extended  from  eight 
to  twelve  miles.  Our  balloon  companies  were  the 
first  branch  of  our  own  Air  Service  to  appear  on 


American  Air  Officer  Jumping  Out  of  an  Airplane 


BALLOONS  89 

the  Western  Front.  They  were  very  well  in- 
structed, equipped,  and  rendered  excellent  service. 

The  observation  balloons  are  probably  the 
easiest  branch  of  the  Air  Service  to  organize, 
equip  and  handle.  Balloons  are  used  to  a  great 
extent  in  our  own  service  not  only  with  the  In- 
fantry Divisions,  but  in  observing  the  fire  of 
artillery  along  our  coasts,  where  they  have  taken 
their  place  as  an  indispensable  adjunct. 

The  hydrogen  for  inflating  the  balloons  is  car- 
ried in  tubes  with  the  balloon  companies,  usually 
enough  for  one  filling,  and  enough  tubes  for  the 
daily  waste  of  gas.  These  tubes  were  filled  by; 
gas  compressors  at  the  gas  generating  plants, 
which  were  in  the  interior  of  the  country.  Hydro- 
gen gas,  of  course,  is  very  inflammable,  and  the 
incendiary  bullets  of  the  enemy  aviation  made 
them  catch  fire  comparatively  easily,  so  that,  in 
addition  to  the  airplane  protection  which  might 
be  in  their  vicinity,  the  balloons  were  equipped 
with  anti-aircraft  machine  guns  varying  in  num- 
ber from  five  or  ten  to  even  thirty  or  forty  in 
some  instances.  Our  balloon  companies,  under 
Lt.  Colonel  John  A.  Paegelow,  during  the 
Chateau  Thierry  operations,  where  we  were  so 
greatly  outnumbered  in  the  air  by  the  enemy,  used 
from  fifteen  to  thirty-five  machine  guns  to  each 
balloon.  The  balloon  company  personnel  became 


90  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

very  expert  in  their  use,  and  not  only  offered 
great  protection  to  their  balloons,  but  also  shot 
down  some  enemy  airplanes. 

The  balloon  companies  can  go  anywhere  that 
the  Infantry  Divisions  do — no  matter  what  the 
character  of  the  country  may  be. 

They  often  tow  the  balloons  right  along  through 
the  air,  attached  to  the  automobile  winches.  The 
roads  are  prepared  ahead  of  them,  so  that  there 
will  be  no  wires  or  other  obstruction  to  catch 
the  balloon  cables.  The  troops  are  often  kept  in 
communication  with  the  balloons  at  all  times 
during  marches  in  this  way.  Whenever  any 
action  starts,  the  balloons  take  position  off  the 
roads,  and  go  right  ahead  about  their  work.  Of 
course,  their  field  of  vision  is  limited  by  thick 
woods,  abrupt  hills,  cut  banks  of  rivers,  and 
things  of  this  nature,  and  when  balloon  com- 
panies are  working  in  conjunction  with  airplanes, 
the  terrain  is  carefully  studied  to  see  what  areas 
will  be  hidden  from  view  of  the  balloon  observers 
at  the  various  altitudes,  and  these  places  are 
particularly  watched  by  airplanes.  In  fact,  the 
principle  of  all  observation  is  that,  whenever  a 
place  can  be  seen  by  a  terrestrial  or  ground  ob- 
server, a  balloon  is  not  used;  what  can  be  seen 
from  a  balloon  is  not  handled  by  an  airplane, 
and  the  things  that  the  ground  observers  and 


BALLOONS  91 

the  balloons  cannot  see  are  assigned  to  the  air- 
planes. All  balloon  companies  have  their  movable 
chart  rooms  in  which  a  study  of  the  ground  is 
made  immediately  a  balloon  is  ordered  to  a  cer- 
tain position.  Maps  are  prepared  showing  just 
what  terrain  can  be  seen  from  1200  to  3600  feet 
and  the  portions  that  are  obscured  from  view 
are  shaded  on  the  map.  Whenever  the  oppor- 
tunity offers,  a  complete  relief  map  showing  all 
hills,  woods,  roads  and  even  houses  are  made  by 
the  balloon  organizations,  which  give  a  wonderful 
idea  of  the  country  lying  in  their  front. 

These  relief  maps  are  of  the  greatest  use  for 
the  laying  out  and  execution  of  all  military  move- 
ments. During  the  battle  of  St.  Mihiel  I  had  a 
relief  map  of  the  whole  area  that  we  were  attack- 
ing, including  the  enemy's  position  to  a  depth 
of  about  ten  miles.  It  was  really  a  wonderful 
map,  and  at  a  glance  one  could  see  just  where 
the  enemy's  advancing  or  retreating  columns 
were  at  any  time  of  their  march,  how  they  would 
be  concealed  by  the  woods,  where  two  or  three 
columns  would  cross  each  other,  and  how  they 
would  be  affected  by  the  surrounding  country — 
that  is,  whether  they  would  be  surrounded  by  flat 
country  where  they  could  get  off  the  road  and  go 
over  fields,  whether  marshes  or  lakes  existed  on 
each  side  of  them,  or  whether  they  were  hemmed 


92  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

in  by  hills.  Many  of  our  bombardment  attacks  by 
airplanes  were  made  in  accordance  with  the  infor- 
mation that  these  maps  gave  us,  and  with  unvary- 
ing success.  The  balloons  helped  the  heavier-than- 
air  units  very  greatly  also,  by  reporting  what  the 
visibility  was  at  the  altitude  at  which  they  were 
working,  and  very  often  what  the  enemy  aerial 
activity  was  also.  The  balloons  have  to  remain 
in  place  and  do  their  work  no  matter  whether 
they  are  protected  by  airplanes  or  not ;  and  when- 
ever the  airplane  protection  is  weaker  than  is  the 
enemy's  Pursuit  Aviation,  the  balloons  are  ex- 
posed to  constant  attack  from  the  incendiary 
bullets  of  the  hostile  pursuit  airplanes.  Most 
strenuous  efforts  are  made  to  shoot  the  balloons 
down,  both  because  of  the  fact  that  it  stops  their 
observation,  and  also  on  account  of  the  effect 
that  it  has  on  the  morale  of  the  troops  with  which 
they  are  working.  If  the  troops  think  that  enemy 
planes  can  get  through  the  lines  and  shoot  their 
own  balloons  down — they  are  usually  from  three 
to  five  miles  behind  the  line — they  become  im- 
bued with  the  idea  that  the  enemy  is  controlling 
the  air  entirely,  and  that  everything  they  do  is 
seen  and  reported.  During  a  stage  of  our  opera- 
tions in  Europe,  one  of  our  observers  was  shot 
down  five  times  during  the  same  day;  his  balloon 
being  burned  each  time.  In  each  case  he  jumped 


Diagram  Illustrating  Method  of  Protecting  Large  Cities  by  Barrage 
Balloons.  Three  Rings  of  Balloons  Here  Shown  Surrounding 
New  York  City 


BALLOONS  93 

out  in  a  parachute  and  landed  safely.  The  method 
of  destroying  balloons  which  was  inagurated  in 
our  1st  Pursuit  Group,  and  of  which  Lt.  Frank 
Luke  was  the  principal  exponent,  was  to  find  the 
position  of  these  balloons  by  day,  and  attack  and 
burn  them  in  their  shelters  by  night.  Within 
seven  days  Lt.  Luke  alone  burned  some  ten  bal- 
loons in  this  way;  and  undoubtedly  would  have 
burned  many  more  had  he  not  been  unfortu- 
nately killed.  The  result  was  that  the  Germans 
moved  all  their  balloons  much  further  back  from 
the  front  lines,  and  used  dummy  balloons  with 
no  observers  in  them  to  attempt  to  draw  our 
attack.  This  was  found  out  at  once,  however, 
and  had  very  little  effect.  Balloon  organizations 
should  remain  with  the  troops  to  which  they  are 
attached  constantly,  know  exactly  what  the  troops' 
work  is,  and  be  able  to  do  their  own  work  re- 
quired at  a  moment's  notice. 

The  use  of  non-inflammable  helium  gas  in 
balloons  will  render  them  much  safer  to  operate 
in,  and  will  make  it  possible  to  repair  the  holes, 
even  if  they  are  torn  in  the  fabric,  instead  of 
having  the  whole  balloon  go  up  in  flames. 

Ordinary  bullet  holes  will  not  let  out  enough 
gas  to  bring  the  balloon  down,  and  when  the  day's 
work  is  finished,  the  balloons  can  be  patched  up 
and  the  balloons  used  the  next  day.  With  hydro- 


94  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

gen  balloons,  an  incendiary  bullet  will  burn  up 
the  whole  structure. 

The  use  of  helium  in  barrage  balloons,  that  is 
those  balloons  which  are  placed  around  important 
points  such  as  cities,  ammunition  depots,  great 
railroad  yards,  or  accumulations  of  material,  will 
make  them  much  more  effective.  These  balloons, 
of  course,  have  nothing  to  do  with  observation 
balloons,  and  are  defensive  protection  against 
hostile  airplanes  in  the  way  that  wire  entangle- 
ments are  an  obstacle  against  troops  on  the 
ground.  Eecently  barrage  balloons  have  been 
raised  up  to  20,000  feet. 


CHAPTER  X 

AIRSHIPS 

FROM  the  remotest  antiquity,  people  have 
wanted  to  transport  themselves  through  the  air 
from  one  place  to  another,  and  for  many  years 
hot  air  and  hydrogen  balloons  have  been  used  for 
free  balloon  flights.  These  voyages,  of  course, 
were  entirely  dependent  on  the  direction  and 
force  of  the  wind  for  their  power  of  locomotion. 
With  the  coming  of  the  gasoline  engine,  however, 
about  thirty  years  ago,  attempts  were  made  to 
construct  a  balloon  which  was  actually  dirigible. 
Success  immediately  crowned  the  efforts  of  the 
early  experimenters. 

The  first  airships  were  made  with  ordinary  gas 
bags,  which  gradually  assumed  a  cigar  or  stream- 
line form.  In  order  to  keep  these  envelopes  from 
losing  their  proper  form,  due  to  the  escape  of 
gas  or  pressure  of  wind  against  them,  interior 
ballonets  filled  by  wind  sails  or  air  pumps,  stiff- 
ening at  various  places  in  the  envelope  itself,  and 
other  expedients  were  tried.  However,  in  1900, 

95 


96  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

there  appeared  the  first  rigid  airship  that  had 
been  brought  out.  This  was  the  Zeppelin,  built 
at  the  instance  of  Count  Zeppelin,  who  was  men- 
tioned as  having  been  in  the  United  States  during 
our  Civil  War.  Although  this  was  a  crude  affair, 
it  amply  proved  its  possibilities,  and  Count 
Zeppelin,  although  having  difficulty  in  obtaining 
sufficient  funds  to  begin  with,  at  last  obtained 
enough  to  keep  up  this  original  work,  which  revo- 
lutionized the  whole  matter  of  airship  transporta- 
tion. The  principle  of  the  Zeppelin  is  to  have  a 
rigid  outer  frame  for  the  whole  envelope  or  out- 
side of  the  ship,  with  separate  ballonets  inside 
of  this  to  contain  the  gas.  The  stiff  envelope 
maintains  its  form  under  all  conditions  of  wind, 
needs  no  interior  ballonets  for  wind  to  keep  the 
envelope  in  form,  and  also  allows  a  size  to  be 
attained  which  is  impossible  in  a  non-rigid  air- 
ship. The  larger  the  size  the  more  weight  can 
be  lifted.  At  this  time  it  is  hard  to  tell  how 
large  the  airship  will  become. 

The  German  military  authorities  were  not  slow 
to  recognize  the  strategical  and  tactical  value  of 
the  airship.  From  the  moment  it  began  to  show 
its  possibilities,  the  interest  of  the  whole  German 
people  in  its  development  became  very  great.  In 
addition  to  Count  Zeppelin,  Dr.  Schiitte  brought 
out  his  first  model  of  a  rigid  airship  in  1912,  and 


Sixteen-Inch  Gun  Used  by  the  French  in  Their  Great  Attack  of 
April,  1917.  Fire  was  Adjusted  by  Balloons  that  are  seen 
Immediately  Above  the  Cannon. 


AIRSHIPS  97 

contributed  largely  to  the  development  of  this 
new  means  of  transportation.  Before  the  great 
war,  a  regular  transportation  line  through  the 
air  had  been  established  in  Germany.  The 
German  Navy  had  adopted  a  definite  method  of 
using  the  Zeppelins.  The  airship  stations,  con- 
sisting of  large  hangars  in  which  these  monsters 
could  be  placed,  were  distributed  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  German  Empire. 
Germany  had  obtained  such  a  tremendous  start 
in  this  respect  that  her  opponents  were  entirely 
unable  to  catch  up  to  her. 

The  great  reliability  of  the  Zeppelin  really  was 
never  understood  until  the  War,  because,  in  order 
to  brace  up  their  own  morale,  the  countries  at 
war  with  Germany  that  did  not  have  Zeppelins 
got  out  a  great  deal  of  propaganda  to  the  effect 
that  Zeppelins  were  no  good,  that  they  were  easily 
shot  down  by  airplanes,  could  not  maneuver  in  a 
storm,  and  all  sorts  of  things.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  in  the  battle  of  Jutland,  German  airships 
practically  saved  the  German  fleet.  The  English 
main  fleet  was  at  Scapa  Flow,  in  Scotland,  with  a 
detachment  in  the  south  near  Eosyth.  The  Eng- 
lish plan  was  to  envelop  the  German  fleet — that 
is,  attack  it  with  the  main  fleet  from  the  North, 
while  the  fleet  from  Eosyth  got  in  behind  them. 
Twelve  Zeppelin  airships,  however,  were  on  con- 


98  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

slant  patrol  between  these  two  points,  and  each 
movement  of  the  British  fleet  was  instantly  re- 
ported to  the  German  fleet.  In  this  way  the 
German  fleet  was  enabled  to  break  off  the  action 
with  the  superior  British  fleet  from  the  North, 
retreat,  and  prevent  being  completely  enveloped 
by  the  detachment  of  the  British  fleet  from  the 
South. 

In  the  Eastern  Campaign — that  is,  in  the  Gor- 
man Campaign  against  the  Eussians — Zeppelins 
were  used  a  great  deal  for  bombing  operations 
and  deep  reconnaissance.  They  executed  many 
bombing  missions  over  England,  and  demon- 
strated during  these  raids  that  they  could  remain 
out  in  practically  any  weather  encountered,  ride 
out  any  storm,  and  that  their  greatest  enemy 
was  the  cold  if  they  happened  to  be  forced  up 
to  too  high  altitudes  in  order  to  escape  the  attack 
of  aircraft  and  anti-aircraft  devices  of  various 
kinds. 

One  of  the  most  notable  examples  of  this  oc- 
curred in  October,  1917,  when  thirteen  Zeppelins 
met  at  a  rendezvous  over  Belgium,  from  various 
parts  of  Germany,  preparatory  to  a  raid  on  Eng- 
land. These  airships  were  each  given  a  definite 
mission  to  accomplish  in  Great  Britain.  They 
were  to  fly  across  the  North  Sea  together,  dis- 
tribute themselves  over  England  at  various  places 


AIRSHIPS  99 

for  their  attack,  meet  at  a  rendezvous  again,  and 
go  back  to  Germany.  The  airships  accordingly 
met  over  Belgium.  On  the  way  over,  two  had 
to  turn  back  on  account  of  engine  trouble,  leaving 
eleven  which  proceeded  on  their  way  to  their  points 
of  attack,  London,  Sheffield,  Birmingham,  etc. 
They  had  been  warned  particularly  in  their  orders 
not  to  rise  above  the  hail  line,  that  is,  the  line 
at  which  the  moisture  in  the  air  solidifies  into 
ice,  which  is  found  at  that  time  of  the  year  at 
an  altitude  of  from  fourteen  to  seventeen  thou- 
sand feet.  These  eleven  Zeppelins  proceeded  on 
their  mission,  which  they  reported  to  have  accom- 
plished, returned,  met  again,  and  started  home- 
ward. They  encountered  a  terrific  storm  over 
the  English  Channel.  They  strove  against  this  all 
night.  The  following  morning  found  them  over 
the  Northwest  coast  of  France.  They  were  im- 
mediately seen  and  attacked  by  anti-aircraft  fire 
from  all  directions,  which  forced  them  to  ascend 
above  the  hail  line.  Here  their  engines  began  to 
get  colder  and  colder,  and  as  they  proceeded  to- 
ward the  East,  their  engines  eventually  froze. 

I  happened  to  be  in  Nancy  when  told  that  the 
Zeppelins  had  just  come  over  with  their  engines 
stopped  and  that  they  were  drifting  before  the 
wind.  The  airplanes  had  been  unable  to  hurt 
them  at  all,  on  account  of  the  high  altitude  at 


100  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

which  the  Zeppelins  were  traveling,  as  the  air- 
planes could  not  get  up  there  quickly  enough.  The 
first  one  that  I  encountered  was  hit  by  an  in- 
cendiary projectile  of  anti-aircraft  artillery  at 
about  17,000  feet  altitude,  and  came  down  in 
flames  at  St.  Clement  near  Luneville.  Its  crew 
was  killed  in  part,  and  part  escaped  by  parachute. 
Shortly  afterward,  I  heard  a  report  that  one  or 
two  Zeppelins  had  landed  near  our  Headquarters 
in  Chautmont,  and,  upon  proceeding  there,  I 
found  that  one  of  the  Zeppelins — the  L-50 — had 
come  down  near  the  earth  and  hit  a  tree  which 
had  torn  the  front  nacelle  away  from  the  ship. 
It  was  in  this  nacelle  that  one  of  my  officers, 
Colonel  Dodd,  a  gallant  and  talented  officer,  later 
killed  in  an  airplane  accident,  obtained  the  orders 
which  directed  the  whole  Zeppelin  expedition. 
This  ship,  after  losing  its  nacelle,  went  straight 
into  the  air  to  a  great  altitude,  was  seized  by 
the  wind,  blown  down  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
and  there  sank  with  its  crew. 

The  L-49  came  down  on  account  of  loss  of  gas 
and  frozen  engines,  entirely  intact,  near  a  little 
placed  called  Bourbonne-les-Bains,  about  fifty 
miles  away  from  Chautmont.  I  inspected  this 
ship  carefully,  and,  although  it  had  been  attacked 
all  the  way  down  by  French  Nieuport  airplanes, 
and  incendiary  bullets,  they  had  practically  no 


I 


AIRSHIPS  101 

effect  on  it  whatever,  because  these  bullets  had 
to  pierce  the  thick  outer  envelope  of  the  ship,  and 
then  go  through  the  gold  beater  skin  bags  which 
contained  the  gas.  By  that  time  the  .30  caliber 
bullets'  power  for  setting  it  on  fire  was  very 
limited.  As  an  illustration  of  how  little  the  Zep- 
pelins were  afraid  of  airplanes,  this  great  airship 
had  only  one  machine  gun  on  it  with  about  eight 
hundred  rounds  of  ammunition. 

An  interesting  thing  occurred  when  the  airship 
landed.  One  of  the  crew  started  up  from  the 
front  nacelle  with  a  signal  pistol  with  which  he 
intended  to  fire  into  one  of  the  gas  bags  and  burn 
the  ship,  so  that  it  would  not  be  captured.  There 
was  an  old  man  hunting  wild  boar  just  at  the 
point  where  the  airship  landed.  The  old  men, 
who  could  not  serve  in  the  Army,  in  France  took 
advantage  of  hunting  all  the  time  while  the  young 
men  were  away  at  war.  This  old  fellow,  a  veteran 
of  the  War  of  1870,  realized  immediately  what  the 
member  of  the  crew  was  attempting  to  do.  He  held 
him  up  with  his  shot-gun,  told  him  he  would  kill 
him  if  he  moved,  and  calling  to  his  companions 
he  had  each  nacelle  or  cabin,  of  which  there  were 
four,  watched  in  the  same  manner,  thereby  saving 
the  ship.  This  was  the  only  modern  Zeppelin 
which  the  Allies  really  got  hold  of  intact.  It  was 
a  tremendous  find  for  them  because  it  contained 


102  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

all  the  engineering  features  which  they  had  been 
unable  to  obtain  before.  The  British  rigid  air- 
ships, built  at  a  later  date,  took  a  great  many 
points  from  this  ship. 

Travel  by  airship  is  the  most  comfortable  and 
delightful  of  any  sort  of  locomotion — superior  in 
every  way  to  railroad  trains  and  away  ahead  of 
steamships.  There  are  no  particular  jars,  bumps, 
heat,  cold,  or  the  usual  dust,  smoke  and  other 
discomforts  of  travel.  In  the  nacelles,  the  noise 
can  be  very  greatly  eliminated.  Distances  are 
covered  by  the  shortest  line,  and  the  view  and 
general  comfort  are  remarkable.  The  modern 
airship  can  cruise  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand 
miles,  and  can  carry  cargo,  besides  its  fuel  and 
crew,  of  upwards  of  twenty  tons,  is  eight  hundred 
feet  long,  over  one  hundred  feet  high,  and  contains 
three  or  four  million  cubic  feet  of  gas. 

The  difficulty  in  handling  airships  arises  when 
they  approach  the  ground.  Up  and  down  cur- 
rents of  air  getting  under  the  ship  make  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  handle,  and  at  first,  before 
the  method  of  handling  was  well  known,  resulted 
in  the  destruction  of  several  airships. 

What  is  very  necessary  is  an  organization  of 
airship  stations  placed  at  central  locations  and 
so  arranged  that,  if  one  happens  to  be  in  a  great 
storm  center  when  the  airship  comes  in,  it  will 


AIRSHIPS  103 

be  able  to  go  to  another  one  and  make  its  landing. 
The  expense  of  constructing  these  is  not  as  great 
as  that  entailed  in  the  building  of  docks  for  large 
steamships.  Not  only  the  United  States  but 
Alaska  and  our  insular  possessions  should  be  im- 
mediately equipped  with  them.  Without  airship 
stations  no  regular  communication  by  airship  is 
possible.  It  has  been  very  clearly  shown  that 
with  airship  stations  properly  organized  and 
located,  travel  by  airship  is  a  very  safe  and  sure 
means  of  communication.  The  German  Zeppelins 
have  carried  some  two  hundred  thousand  pas- 
sengers without  a  single  fatality.  As  to  cost,  a 
very  exaggerated  idea  has  obtained  heretofore. 
Naturally,  the  first  few  airships  to  be  built  cost 
more  than  they  will  subsequently.  An  airship  of 
the  very  best  class  will  not  cost  any  more  than 
a  vessel  of  equivalent  performance  at  sea — that 
is,  anywhere  from  half  a  million  to  two  or  three 
million  dollars. 

The  United  States  is  more  backward  in  its  de- 
velopment of  airships  than  in  any  other  one  thing 
connected  with  aeronautics.  It  has  never  built  an 
airship  of  the  rigid  type,  or  even  a  semi-rigid. 
Semi-rigid  airships  such  as  the  Italians  developed 
during  the  War  are  quite  interesting  from  many 
standpoints.  The  semi-rigid,  instead  of  having  a 
frame  stiffened  by  beams  of  various  sorts  around 


104  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  whole  envelope,  has  a  frame  around  the  lower 
part  of  the  envelope  and  around  the  nose  of  the 
airship  only.  The  rest  of  the  airship  is  entirely 
of  cloth,  and  holds  its  shape  from  the  pressure  of 
gas  and  air  in  interior  ballonets.  The  advantage 
of  this  ship  over  the  rigid  ship  is  primarily  on 
account  of  its  lightness  as  so  many  beams  and 
structures  have  been  done  away  with.  This  en- 
ables it  to  lift  more  weight  and  go  to  higher 
altitudes,  in  accordance  with  the  volume  of  gas 
which  it  holds.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  make 
as  large  an  airship  according  to  this  system  as 
it  is  according  to  the  rigid  system.  The  largest 
semi-rigid  so  far  built  by  Italy  contains  one 
million  one  hundred  thousand  cubic  feet,  and  has 
been  purchased  by  the  United  States  Army  for 
experimental  purposes.  It  will  be  the  first  large 
airship  delivered  in  America,  will  have  a  cruising 
distance  of  about  eight  thousand  miles,  and,  in 
addition,  will  be  able  to  lift  about  five  and  one- 
half  tons,  besides  fuel,  crew  and  equipment.  The 
semi-rigids,  of  course,  are  very  much  easier  to 
build  than  the  rigids,  and  correspondingly  cheap. 
In  fact,  these  can  be  built  in  Europe  for  from  two 
to  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  They  would 
cost  more  than  double  that  here. 

An  airship  requires  very  perfect  training  for 
the  navigating  personnel,  and  is  much  more  diffi- 


AIRSHIPS  105 

cult  to  handle  than  a  vessel  on  the  water,  not  in 
taking  it  from  place  to  place,  which  is  the  simplest 
part  of  the  whole  thing,  but  in  actually  main- 
taining it  in  all  sorts  of  weather  and  in  its  landings 
and  getting  off  the  ground. 

An  interesting  development  in  connection  with 
airships  came  with  the  discovery  of  helium  gas. 
This  is  a  non-inflammable  gas  which  has  about 
ninety  per  cent  of  tke  lifting  power  of  hydrogen. 
It  was  discovered  by  Sir  J.  Norman  Lockyer  in 
1868,  while  observing  the  sun.  It  was  found  later 
that  the  natural  gas  in  the  United  States  con- 
tained anywhere  from  a  trace  to  two  per  cent  of 
helium,  and,  as  far  as  known  at  the  present  time, 
the  United  States  has  a  monopoly  on  all  helium 
in  the  world.  It  is  found  in  small  quantities  in 
other  places,  but  not  to  a  sufficient  extent  to  make 
it  practicable  at  this  time  for  production  in  great 
quantities  for  airships.  The  method  by  which  this 
gas  is  obtained  is  to  subject  the  natural  gas  to 
high  pressure  and  low  temperature  which,  when 
it  reaches  a  certain  point,  solidifies  the  ordinary 
natural,  or  coal  gas  as  it  is  called,  leaving  the 
helium  still  free.  It  is  then  drawn  off  and  put 
into  tubes.  This  gas  may  be  mixed  with  about 
eighteen  per  cent  of  hydrogen  and  still  retain  its 
non-inflammable  qualities.  The  United  States 
Government  is  now  experimenting  very  success- 


106  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

fully  with  the  production  of  this  gas,  and  some 
civilian  companies  are  projecting  its  extraction  on 
a  commercial  basis,  being  convinced  that  airship 
communication  is  only  a  short  way  off. 

While  helium  will  be  of  tremendous  advantage 
for  airships  in  case  of  war,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that,  during  the  War,  not  one  single  instance 
occurred  of  a  Zeppelin  being  burned  except  from 
hostile  attack.  In  other  words,  the  ship,  in  so 
far  as  its  own  self  is  concerned,  is  perfectly  safe 
against  fire,  and,  of  course,  as  long  as  we  use 
gasoline  for  fuel  for  the  engines,  an  inflammable 
element  remains  which  will  cause  fire  irrespective 
of  what  lifting  gas  is  used  in  the  envelope.  As 
helium  has  never  been  tried  on  a  practical  basis 
we  do  not  yet  know  just  what  its  effect  will  be. 
A  certain  amount  of  helium  has  been  procured  and 
put  into  tubes,  and  was  just  being  sent  abroad 
for  use  in  the  captive  balloons  when  the  war  in 
Europe  ceased. 

That  airships  will  be  a  potent  factor  in  all  com- 
munications in  a  comparatively  few  years,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  As  the  great  transporting  or- 
ganizations, either  over  the  water  or  over  the 
land,  will  probably  not  go  into  this  means  of 
transportation,  new  companies  will  have  to  be 
organized,  financed  and  started,  in  order  to  de- 
this  field.  This  is  always  a  slow  process. 


AIRSHIPS  107 

The  development  undoubtedly  will  be  retarded 
also  due  to  the  fact  that  Germany,  that  is  way 
ahead  in  this  type  of  construction,  has  necessarily 
been  curtailed  in  her  production  of  these  ships 
by  the  Allies. 

For  communication  from  North  to  South 
America,  or  from  America  to  Europe  or  Asia,  the 
airship  offers  very  great  possibilities,  and,  as 
America  is  a  sort  of  meeting  place  of  these  routes, 
probably  their  greatest  development  will  take 
place  on  this  continent,  particularly  as  we  have 
every  element  necessary  for  their  construction, 
maintenance  and  operations. 

Airships  are  a  necessity  for  transporting  sup- 
plies for  other  aviation  units.  In  this  country 
with  the  bad  roads  and  long  distances  that  exist, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  supply  heavier-than-air 
groups  that  have  to  move  rapidly  from  place  to 
place  by  means  of  transportation  on  the  ground. 
With  their  speed  and  ability  to  carry  twenty  tons 
or  more  in  one  load  the  proper  use  of  airships 
would  render  an  air  service  independent  of  other 
transport. 

Airships  will  play  a  very  prominent  part  in 
furnishing  supplies  for  the  armies  that  are  oper- 
ating where  the  roads  are  very  bad,  and  where 
railroad  or  steamship  facilities  do  not  exist.  The 
average  man  eats  about  four  pounds  of  food  a 


108  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

day,  or  each  company  of  250  men  will  eat  about 
1000  pounds.  A  full  regiment  of  Infantry  would 
eat  about  12,000  pounds,  or  6  tons.  Twenty  tons 
then,  or  the  cargo  of  one  of  the  ordinary  Zep- 
pelins, would  feed  in  one  trip  a  brigade  of  In- 
fantry of  three  regiments.  As  these  airships  can 
make  70  miles  an  hour,  and  as  the  loading  and 
unloading  can  be  made  very  quickly,  a  great 
number  of  troops  could  be  easily  supplied  by  a 
good  Zeppelin  organization.  Twenty  tons  of 
bombs  form  a  very  formidable  weapon  against 
anything  that  is  vulnerable  to  explosive  pro- 
jectiles. The  Panama  Canal,  for  instance,  forms 
an  example  of  this.  The  military  value  of  this 
canal  to  the  United  States  depends  on  its  being 
kept  clear  for  the  passage  of  our  fleets  from  one 
ocean  to  the  other.  One  thousand-pound  bomb 
dropped  into  a  lock,  or  another  vulnerable  part 
of  the  Canal,  would  prohibit  its  use  for  months. 
An  airship  can  approach  the  Canal  either  from 
Europe  or  Asia  without  landing  with  its  full 
cargo,  and  watch  for  its  opportunity  to  approach 
under  cover  of  darkness  or  clouds,  and  almost 
certainly  hit  its  objective.  If  the  Allies  had  pos- 
sessed Zeppelins  they  could  have  done  a  great 
deal  of  damage  to  the  Kiel  Canal  in  Germany  dur- 
ing the  War.  We  must  expect  in  the  future, 
therefore,  that  squadrons  of  Zeppelins  of  twenty 


United  States  Army  Airship  Hangar 


German  Airship  Station  Showing  Three  Hangars,  Gas-Plant,  and 
Narrow  Gauge  Railroad  for  Supplying  Material 


AIRSHIPS  109 

or  thirty  in  number  will  be  dispatched  immediately 
at  the  beginning  of  war  to  attack  the  most  vul- 
nerable parts  in  an  enemy's  country.  It  has  been 
thought  by  many  that  the  use  of  airships  will 
have  its  greatest  development  over  the  water. 
This  will  not  be  the  case,  because  the  only  use  of 
military  organizations  over  the  water  is  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  open  and  maintaining  sea- 
lanes  free  for  the  use  of  one's  own  shipping. 
When  this  has  been  assured,  the  only  way  that 
a  war  can  be  brought  to  a  successful  termination 
in  case  of  determined  resistance  is  to  carry  the 
war  into  the  enemy's  country;  and  in  modern 
times  this  may  mean  attacking  his  whole  popula- 
tion, means  of  production  and  subsistence.  The 
large  rigid  airship  will  be  a  great  element  in  prose- 
cuting campaigns  of  this_sort  in  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XI 

FLYING  PERSONNEL 

So  far  we  have  spoken  of  the  various  branches 
of  aeronautics,  their  employment,  the  airplanes  or 
airships  that  are  used,  and  their  accessories. 
The  most  important  element  in  aeronautics,  how- 
ever, as  it  is  in  any  other  undertaking,  is  the 
personnel  which  must  direct  the  Air  Service  and 
operate  and  construct  the  airplanes  and  airships. 

No  one  can  know  the  air  except  one  who  works 
and  travels  in  it,  and  a  thorough  air  education 
can  only  be  acquired  by  long  study  and  experi- 
ence in  this  science  and  art.  The  greatest  handi- 
cap under  which  aeronautics  has  labored  in  all 
countries  and  particularly  in  the  United  States, 
has  been  the  fact  that  the  Government  agencies 
charged  with  the  development  of  aviation  have, 
in  practically  every  case,  been  organized  with  a 
non-flying  direction  at  their  head,  which  could 
not  possibly  know  or  appreciate  the  problems 
concerned  in  its  development.  This  was  because 
no  corps  of  officers  was  especially  trained,  as  a 

no 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  111 

body,  to  specialize  in  aviation.  Europe  is  more 
fortunate,  due  to  the  pressure  of  circumstances. 
Starting  out  with  a  non-flying  direction,  they  soon 
began  to  emerge  from  it  so  that  by  1916  or  1917 
flying  matters  were  being  handled  entirely  by 
fliers.  Many  officers  could  be  found  who  could 
keep  papers  straight,  attend  to  so-called  admin- 
istrative details,  and  do  everything  except  fly. 
They  absolutely  broke  down,  however,  because 
they  knew  nothing  about  tactical  handling  and 
use  of  aircraft.  Whenever  a  new  military  branch 
begins  to  develop,  creative  minds  must  be  de- 
veloped to  handle  it.  Men  do  not  acquire  this 
ability  by  intuition,  but  have  to  learn  it  by  long 
study  and  practice.  Tactical  ability  always  is  the 
most  difficult  to  obtain — by  this  is  meant  the 
actual  art  of  handling  troops  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy.  Technical  ability  is  an  exact  science,  and 
can  be  learned  very  largely  in  schools  and  col- 
leges. The  duties  of  an  air  force  lie  in  the  air, 
and  it  is  there  that  all  the  personnel  concerned 
with  its  handling  must  receive  the  maximum 
amount  of  training.  Most  of  the  aeronautical  en- 
gineers, and  all  of  the  best  ones,  appreciated 
absolutely  the  necessity  of  knowing  the  air  and 
being  fliers  ahead  of  anything  else,  which  gave 
them  a  great  advantage  over  all  competitors  in 
that  they  combined  both  the  practical  and  scientific 


112  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

ability  necessary  for  developing  new  airplanes 
and  their  accessories. 

So  many  new  elements  came  into  the  training 
of  fliers  that  a  whole  new  system  of  education 
has  been  developed  for  them.  The  first  character- 
istic that  had  to  be  taken  into  consideration  was 
that  of  physique.  Rapid  changes  in  altitude, 
speed  with  which  one  left  the  ground  and  came 
back  to  it,  and  the  necessity  for  accurateness  of 
vision,  rapidity  of  thought,  and  certainty  of  ac- 
tion required  an  entirely  different  class  of  men 
from  those  which  had  heretofore  constituted  the 
officers  in  an  army  or  a  navy.  In  fact,  the  physical 
requirements  in  the  American  Air  Service  are 
such  that  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  officers  ac- 
cepted into  the  Regular  Army  between  the  ages 
of  twenty  and  thirty  cannot  pass  the  aviation 
physical  examination;  between  the  ages  of  thirty 
and  forty,  fifty  per  cent,  and  between  forty  and 
fifty,  seventy-five  per  cent.  So,  this  new  service 
required  a  definite  organization  of  the  medical 
authorities  to  study  the  physical  results  which 
obtained  after  men  had  flown  a  long  time  in  the 
air,  the  mental  reactions  which  occurred  on  the 
pilots,  and  the  ways  in  which  these  could  best  be 
determined  and  handled. 

One  very  erroneous  impression  gained  consid- 
erable ground,  largely  owing  to  the  fact  that 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  113 

aviation  was  such  a  new  art,  and  this  was  that 
no  one  could  be  a  flying  officer  except  a  very 
young  man.  Our  best  pilots  in  the  European 
War  ranged  around  thirty  years  of  age,  and  these 
same  flying  officers  will  continue  to  be  more  valu- 
able as  time  goes  on  unless  prevented  by  some 
physical  disability.  This  example  is  very  similar 
to  that  of  officers  in  various  branches  of  the  army. 
For  instance,  a  Lieutenant  of  Infantry  marches 
with  his  platoon  and  carries  his  pack  on  his  back ; 
as  he  becomes  older,  if  he  stays  with  the  field 
army,  he  rides  a  horse,  until  he  leaves  the  regi- 
mental organizations  and  becomes  a  general — 
then  he  goes  in  an  automobile.  While  he  still 
may  be  possessed  of  all  the  physical  requirements 
necessary  in  a  Lieutenant,  he  must  devote  more 
time  with  his  head  to  the  problems  which  have 
to  be  solved.  In  a  similar  way,  the  air  officer 
starts  as  a  pilot  in  the  flight;  becomes  a  flight 
commander,  squadron  commander,  group  com- 
mander, wing  commander,  and  brigade  com- 
mander. As  he  goes  up  and  handles  his  large 
units  in  the  air,  he  and  his  staff  act  more  and 
more  in  a  directional  capacity.  Air  units  cannot 
be  handled  from  the  ground — they  must  be 
handled  in  the  air,  and  great  co-ordination  can 
be  had  now  through  radio  telegraphy  and  tele- 
phony as  in  the  case  of  any  other  military  organ- 


114  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

ization.  In  addition  to  the  tactical  requirements, 
all  supply  officers,  technical  officers,  medical 
officers,  or  anybody  concerned  with  the  Air  Ser- 
vice should  have  sufficient  flying  education  to 
enable  them  to  appreciate  the  problems  in  hand. 
This  flying  must  be  kept  up.  Individual  morale 
in  the  air  officer  is  more  important  than  in  any 
other  service,  because  his  duties  require  a  great 
deal  of  work  to  be  done  absolutely  alone,  without 
the  support  of  a  companion,  and  often  where  no 
one  will  see  if  cowardice  is  shown  or  if  a  battle 
is  avoided.  An  air  officer  can  very  easily  say 
that  his  motor  does  not  work  properly;  that  his 
machine  guns  are  jammed;  or  that  many  other 
things  have  happened,  without  its  being  known 
as  easily  as  the  corresponding  dereliction  of  duty 
would  be  on  the  ground.  Often,  the  only  way  that 
this  can  be  told  is  by  the  intuitive  knowledge  that 
one  air  officer  has  of  another.  Most  careful  in- 
struction has  to  be  given,  therefore,  in  the  main- 
tenance of  morale  among  flying  personnel.  Ninety 
per  cent  of  the  effectiveness  of  an  Air  Service 
depends  on  the  morale  and  initiative  of  its  per- 
sonnel. The  most  injury  that  can  be  caused  to 
the  morale  of  an  Air  Service  is  to  place  it  under 
non-flying  officers  who  have  not  learned  their  busi- 
ness from  the  ground  up,  have  not  been  exposed 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  115 

to  the  dangers,  and  have  not  the  point  of  view  of 
the  airmen. 

The  system  adopted  by  the  Army  of  the  United 
States  for  the  training  of  its  fliers  consists  in 
selecting  able-bodied  young  men  coming  up  to 
the  physical  requirements  and  having  what  is 
termed  "a  college  education."  These  young 
gentlemen  come  either  from  the  colleges  through- 
out the  country,  from  the  Military  Academy,  or 
from  the  ranks ;  are  examined,  and  then  assigned 
to  what  are  called  pilots'  schools. 

The  course  in  the  pilots '  schools  lasts  for  about 
four  months.  The  students  are  taught,  primarily, 
flying  under  the  most  capable  instructors  obtain- 
able. The  American  system  of  flying  instruction 
is  what  is  called  dual  control.  The  students  are 
taken  up  in  two-seater  airplanes,  in  each  seat  of 
which  there  is  a  control  for  the  airplane,  all  the 
throttles  and  instruments  for  the  engines,  the 
rudder  bar,  and  the  stick  or  wheel  for  the  con- 
trols. At  first  the  student  is  taken  up  and  merely 
allowed  to  feel  the  controls.  Gradually  he  is 
given  more  and  more  opportunity  to  fly  the  air- 
plane, to  make  accurate  turns,  to  fly  straight,  to 
rise,  to  climb,  and  to  glide.  He  then  is  practiced 
in  landings  which,  to  the  novice,  is  the  most  diffi- 
cult undertaking.  Judging  the  speed  in  the  air 
with  the  distance  to  the  ground  has  to  be  com- 


116  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

bined  in  a  way  required  of  nothing  else,  on  account 
of  the  speed  with  which  the  airplane  descends, 
glides,  and  approaches  the  ground.  There  are 
no  brakes  on  airplanes  as  there  are  on  auto- 
mobiles. 

Gradually,  the  student  aviator  acquires  more 
proficiency,  and  he  is  then  allowed  to  take  up  his 
airplane  for  his  first  solo  flight.  This  is  always 
the  great  turning  point  in  a  flying  officer's  train- 
ing. Some  "get  away  with  it"  well,  and  some 
don't.  Of  course,  many  are  eliminated  as  the 
course  goes  on,  as  things  develop  about  them 
which  cannot  be  foretold  except  by  actual  test. 

When  the  student  pilots  have  shown  that  they 
can  handle  their  airplanes  in  ordinary  straight 
flight,  they  are  given  what  is  called  a  course  in 
aerial  acrobatics — that  is,  the  airplane  is  put  into 
all  positions,  in  and  out  of  control,  into  which  it 
is  possible  to  place  an  airplane,  and  they  are 
made  to  extricate  it.  This  consists  of  spins  of 
various  kinds,  stalls  in  which  the  ship  loses  all 
its  velocity  and  falls,  various  turns,  dives  and 
loops.  All  of  these  maneuvers  have  a  direct  bear- 
ing on  fighting  in  the  air,  and  no  flying  officer  is 
competent  to  handle  an  airplane  unless  he  is 
thoroughly  familiar  with  all  of  them. 

It  is  amusing  for  a  flying  officer  to  hear  persons 
unfamiliar  with  aviation  talk  about  trick  flying. 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  117 

There  is  no  maneuver  in  the  air  which  a  flying 
officer  should  not  know  and  be  entirely  familiar 
with,  as  they  are  all  necessary  in  the  military 
use  of  aviation. 

During  the  time  that  the  flying  officer  is  obtain- 
ing his  flying  training,  which  amounts  to  about 
thirty  or  forty  minutes  a  day,  because  more  than 
this  tires  out  the  student  both  physically,  mentally 
and  nervously,  he  is  taught  the  elements  which 
go  into  the  make-up  and  operation  of  the  engine. 
This  is  the  most  important  single  thing  about  an 
airplane.    If  the  engine  does  not  go,  the  airplane 
cannot  fly.    The  old  saying  is  that  "if  an  engine 
runs  one  can  get  away  with  anything,''  so  that 
a  great  deal  of  instruction  is  given  with  the  en- 
gine.   Next,  an  elementary  knowledge  of  airplane 
construction  and  design,  and  the  reason  for  it,  is 
given;  how  the  airplanes  are  assembled  and  put 
together  in  the  field;  how  they  have  to  be  lined 
up  at  the  various  angles  in  which  the  planes  have 
to  be  set  with  the  fuselage,  how  the  landing  gear 
has  to  be  put  on,  how  the  tail  surfaces  function, 
and  how  the  inspections  of  these  things  are  made, 
to  see  that  the  airplane  is  in  condition  to  fly. 
Next,  how  the  armament  is  installed — the  machine 
guns  and  bombs — -and  how  they  work.    And  last, 
the    radio    telegraph    and    telephone,    and    the 
cameras.     During  this  whole  time,  the  greatest 


118  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

attention  is  given  to  discipline,  guard  duty,  and 
to  teaching  the  pilot  the  responsibility  which  de- 
volves upon  him  when  he  is  alone,  or  with  others 
in  the  air.  There  is  no  place  in  any  service  in 
which  individual  responsibility  has  to  be  exer- 
cised to  the  extent  that  it  does  by  the  airman. 
His  individual  action  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy, 
and  the  reports  he  brings  back,  or  his  general 
estimate  of  a  situation,  may  mean  the  success  of 
a  whole  operation  in  the  air,  on  the  ground,  or 
on  the  water. 

The  Army  now  maintains  two  pilots'  schools — 
one  at  Carlstrom  Field,  near  Arcadia,  in  Florida, 
and  the  other  at  March  Field,  Eiverside,  Cali- 
fornia. In  these  localities,  the  weather  is  very 
equable  throughout  the  year,  conditions  are  favor- 
able for  cross-country  flying,  and  for  developing 
map  reading  and  navigation  through  the  air. 

When  the  students  graduate  from  the  pilots' 
schools,  they  are  ready  to  take  up  the  study  of 
the  special  branch  of  aviation  in  which  they  are 
to  serve — that  is,  Pursuit,  Attack,  Bombardment, 
or  Observation  Aviation.  Each  one  of  these 
specialties  requires  a  training,  specialized  even 
more  so  than  do  the  Infantry,  Cavalry,  Artillery 
and  Engineers  in  the  Army.  The  young  men  are 
selected  for  these  positions  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendations  of  their  instructors,  in  which 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  119 

the  special  characteristics  of  the  individual  are 
taken  into  account. 

In  the  pursuit  school,  the  students  are  taught 
the  tactics  of  Pursuit  Aviation,  the  part  which 
the  individual  must  play  in  the  carrying  out  of 
the  system  that  is  used  in  this  branch,  and  each 
individual  is  perfected  so  as  to  make  it  possible 
for  him  to  join  a  pursuit  squadron  as  a  pilot. 
Pursuit  is  the  branch  of  aviation  that  bears  more 
analogy  to  what  Cavalry  used  to  be  in  an  army 
than  any  other  branch.  The  student  is  taught 
the  time,  place  and  method  of  attacking  each  kind 
of  hostile  aviation.  He  is  taught  how  the  hostile 
ships  look,  what  their  silhouettes  are,  what  forma- 
tions they  fly  in,  and  learns  from  that  to  estimate 
what  they  may  do,  and  to  govern  his  own  actions 
accordingly.  The  maximum  amount  of  time  is 
put  on  shooting,  and  he  is  required  to  fire  at 
targets  on  the  ground,  in  the  water,  those  towed 
through  the  air  by  other  airplanes,  on  parachutes 
and  on  small  balloons.  The  shooting  of  our 
aviators  has  always  been  one  of  the  very  strong 
characteristics  of  our  Air  Service.  We  are 
second  to  none  in  the  world  in  this  respect.  The 
course  at  the  pursuit  school  takes  some  four 
months,  and  the  young  men  who  successfully  pass 
it  are  sent  to  join  their  squadron.  The  United 


120  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

States  maintains  a  single  pursuit  school  at  San 
Diego,  California. 

The  young  men  assigned  to  the  bombardment 
school  learn  the  tactics  and  technics  of  Bombard- 
ment Aviation,  how  the  bombs  are  built,  how  they 
are  put  into  the  airplanes,  what  kind  of  pro- 
jectiles are  necessary  for  the  attacking  of  certain 
objects,  such  as  military  works,  railroad  stations, 
bridges,  roads,  troops,  naval  vessels,  troops  de- 
barking from  vessels,  or  trains,  and,  in  fact, 
everything  that  may  require  attack.  The  instruc- 
tion on  the  ground  consists  in  simulating  by 
various  devices  how  their  bomb  sights  will  be 
used,  and  how  the  formations  in  which  their 
squadrons  must  fly  are  handled  to  get  the  maxi- 
mum amount  of  effect,  particularly  in  the  large 
formations  in  which  Bombardment  Aviation  now 
flies.  They  are  trained  to  fly  at  night,  to  find 
their  way  accurately  across  the  country  during 
that  time,  and  to  land  at  night  by  the  aid  of  their 
own  flares  carried  under  their  wings.  The  bom- 
bardment school  is  at  Ellington  Field,  near 
Houston,  Texas,  and,  upon  completion  of  his 
course,  the  young  officer  joins  his  squadron  for 
further  instruction. 

The  officers  selected  for  observation  work  go 
to  the  observation  school  at  Post  Field,  Fort  Sill, 
Oklahoma,  where  also  the  Field  Artillery  School 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  121 

of  the  Army  is  located.  The  observation  course 
consists  in  studying  with  great  care  the  forma- 
tions of  troops  on  the  ground,  what  they  do,  and 
how  the  Air  Service  co-operates  with  them.  The 
Observation  Air  Service  is  distinctly  an  auxiliary 
of  troops,  and  as  such  has  to  work  and  be  with 
them  constantly.  No  artillery  can  fire  accurately 
now  any  distance  without  having  observation  from 
the  air,  and  the  observers  are  taught  to  gauge 
the  fall  of  the  projectiles  from  the  artillery  with 
a  percentage  of  accuracy  which  amounts  to  a 
very  few  yards'  error  in  each  shot.  They  get  a 
most  thorough  course  in  map  reading  and  map 
making,  of  flying  low  over  the  heads  of  the  in- 
fantry so  as  to  find  out  the  exact  position  of  the 
lines,  to  deliver  messages  to  them  and  take  mes- 
sages from  them.  The  signals  consist  of  rockets 
that  are  fired  by  the  airplanes,  while  strips  of 
cloth,  or  panels  as  they  are  called,  are  laid  on 
the  ground  by  the  infantry,  messages  dropped  in 
tubes,  and  other  means  of  communication  found 
necessary  according  to  the  conditions  encountered. 
The  best  means  of  communication  from  the  earth 
with  the  air,  however,  is  by  radio  telegraphy  anfl 
a  great  deal  of  work  is  done  in  that  line.  The 
radio  telephone  is  now  becoming  a  very  potent 
element  in  communication  with  aircraft,  and 
radio  is  working  successfully  not  only  between 


122  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

airplanes  in  flight,  but  even  between  airplanes  and 
submarines  when  they  are  submerged. 

The  ability  to  find  out  and  report  upon  all 
ground  objects  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  troops,  on 
roads,  railroads,  cities,  and  military  positions  is 
studied  in  the  greatest  detail  in  this  department. 
The  aerial  camera  plays  a  very  important  part 
in  it.  Before  the  War,  we  practically  had  no 
aerial  cameras  in  America  worthy  of  the  name, 
and  it  is  only  during  the  last  year  that  a  good 
American  camera  had  been  developed.  The  new 
one,  however,  is  excellent,  and  works  well  at  high 
altitudes.  On  account  of  the  way  in  which  air- 
craft are  attacked,  both  by  anti-aircraft  artillery 
and  other  airplanes,  it  is  necessary  for  a  great 
deal  of  photographic  work  to  be  done  at  ex- 
tremely high  altitudes.  During  the  War  we  photo- 
graphed up  to  an  altitude  of  twenty  thousand 
feet,  and  from  now  on  we  shall  have  to  photo- 
graph up  to  thirty  thousand  feet.  It  may  be 
easily  seen  how  the  work  of  aerial  photography 
is  a  thing  entirely  special  in  itself,  and,  to  show 
the  economy  of  this  sort  of  topographical  work 
not  only  in  photographing  specific  positions,  but 
in  photographing  whole  areas  of  country,,  a  recent 
map  was  made  in  the  vicinity  of  Schoolcraft, 
Michigan,  by  Captain  McSpaden  and  Captain 
Stevens  of  the  Air  Service,  which  covered  an 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  123 

area  in  seven  hours  which  would  have  taken  three 
months  or  more  of  extensive  work  by  the  old 
ground  surveying  methods  of  triangulation  and 
plane  table  work,  and  even  then  the  details  of  the 
ground  could  not  possibly  have  been  shown.  The 
advantage  of  camera  mapping  over  others,  par- 
ticularly in  this  country,  where  only  forty  per 
cent  of  the  whole  United  States  has  been  mapped, 
is  invaluable.  Here  again  we  have  a  field  for 
aeronautics  which  is  unparalleled  in  any  other 
country. 

Our  Observation  Air  Service  has  been  used 
very  successfully  in  the  forest  patrol  and  the 
prevention  of  fires.  The  aviators  locate  and  re- 
port the  fires  long  before  other  means  are  capable 
of  doing  so.  In  this  way  the  fires  may  be  put 
out  before  they  do  much  damage.  During  the 
year  1919,  the  Air  Service  Forest  Patrol  in  the 
Pacific  States  saved  more  money  for  the  Govern- 
ment than  the  amount  of  the  whole  appropriation 
given  by  Congress  for  the  Air  Service. 

In  the  defense  of  our  coasts,  our  Observation 
Air  Service  will  be  the  first  element  that  gains 
contact  with  the  enemy,  and  they  are  trained  to 
observe  and  report  on  all  enemy  shipping  that 
comes  near  our  shores.  The  land  airplanes,  due 
to  their  speed,  maneuverability,  and  ceiling,  are 
superior  to  anything  else  for  this  purpose.  Fly- 


124  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

ing  boats  are  so  slow  and  are  so  easily  shot  down 
by  hostile  Pursuit  Aviation  that  they  are  of  little 
use  for  observation  along  a  coast.  It  is  very 
easy  to  reconnoiter  over  the  seas  as  compared 
to  over  the  land,  because  the  vessel  on  the  water 
cannot  be  hidden  by  trees  or  artificial  camouflage. 
At  night,  ships  on  the  water  are  particularly  easy 
to  pick  up;  not  only  are  they  easy  to  see  with 
their  lights  out,  but  their  wake  or  the  trail  left 
behind  them  in  the  water  is  always  bright,  either 
from  the  white  foam  or  the  phosphorescence 
which  always  follows  them.  On  the  other  hand, 
submarines  are  very  hard  to  find  from  the  air 
as  was  amply  proved  during  the  War.  Usually 
when  on  the  surface  they  lie  still  and  when  sub- 
merged are  quite  invisible  ordinarily. 

In  our  newest  branch  of  aviation,  called  attack, 
which  is  designed  to  attack  troops,  tanks,  and 
other  things  on  the  ground,  more  airplanes 
equipped  with  cannon,  many  machine  guns,  and 
also  small  bombs,  are  used.  The  students  are 
taught  the  tactics  of  this  special  arm.  The 
maneuvers  of  this  branch  of  the  service  are  car- 
ried out  very  close  to  the  ground — in  many  cases 
only  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  feet  above  its 
surface.  This  branch  of  aviation  has  to  approach 
places  to  deliver  its  attacks  through  ravines,  be- 
hind a  screen  of  woods,  or  even  behind  smoke 


American  K-l  Camera,  Developed  by  the  American  Air  Service 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  131 

screens.  They  have  to  learn  very  accurately  the 
difference  between  friendly  troops  and  hostile 
troops  as  they  are  mixed  up  in  the  heat  of  combat. 
Attack  Aviation  flies  through  the  artillery  bar- 
rages of  both  sides  and  is  exposed  to  machine 
gun  and  other  fire  from  the  ground  from  all 
directions.  They  have  to  know  what  the  element 
of  surprise  means,  how  to  take  the  utmost  ad- 
vantage of  the  sun,  clouds,  and  every  element 
which  lends  to  their  concealment.  This  class  of 
aircraft  is  particularly  efficient  against  tanks  on 
the  ground — in  fact,  only  a  few  days  ago,  in  some 
'tests  that  I  was  having  conducted  at  a  target  of 
a  tank,  out  of  eight  shots  fired  by  an  attack  air- 
plane five  hit  the  target  directly.  Any  one  of 
these  shots  would  have  put  the  tank  out  of  action. 
The  effect  of  the  fire  from  the  machine  guns 
carried  by  these  attack  airplanes  is  tremendous, 
and  will  be  a  decisive  element  in  future  battles. 
Each  attack  airplane  actually  carries  more  than 
twice  as  many  guns  as  the  average  machine  gun 
nests  on  the  ground  did  in  the  War. 

The  attack  airplanes  have  to  work  in  the  closest 
harmony  with  their  own  Pursuit  Aviation,  which 
has  to  protect  them  from  the  hostile  pursuit,  and 
the  student  officers  are  taught  the  interdependence 
of  these  two  branches  of  aviation.  They  are 
also  taught  the  method  of  attacking  boats  and 


126  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

shipping,  and  how  to  land  and  fight  other  troops 
or  airplanes  from  the  ground.  Attack  Aviation 
can  almost  be  compared  now  to  flying  battleships 
or  flying  tanks.  Great  development  will  take  place 
in  Attack  Aviation. 

When  the  young  men  have  completed  their 
courses  in  the  special  schools,  they  join  their 
squadrons  or  the  actual  air  troops.  After  serving 
there  for  a  period  of  two  years  and  becoming  en- 
tirely familiar  with  the  tactics,  the  supply,  and 
the  handling  of  their  organization,  certain  of 
those  who  have  shown  themselves  the  most  pro- 
ficient are  selected  for  higher  tactical  education, 
and  some  for  higher  technical  education.  Those 
for  a  higher  tactical  education  are  sent  to  the 
Air  Service  School  at  Langley  Field  on  Chesa- 
peake Bay.  There  they  are  taught  how  to  handle 
all  the  air  arms  in  combination,  how  to  work 
with  the  ground  troops,  how  to  fight  other  air 
troops,  navies,  and  ground  troops — in  other 
words,  it  is  here  that  officers  are  given  their  edu- 
cation which  combines  all  the  different  elements 
of  aviation.  Those  chosen  for  a  technical  educa- 
tion are  sent  first  to  the  School  of  the  Engineering 
Division  of  the  Air  Service,  which  at  present  is 
at  Dayton,  Ohio.  Upon  graduation  some  are  sent 
to  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  or 
other  technical  institutions,  which  have  engineer- 


PLYING  PERSONNEL  127 

ing  courses  in  aero  dynamics  and  other  technical 
matters  pertaining  to  the  construction  and  de- 
velopment of  aircraft. 

At  the  present  time,  this  educational  system  is 
all  that  is  given  in  the  Air  Service.  Beyond  this, 
certain  selected  officers  are  sent  to  the  Army 
School  of  the  Line  and  the  General  Staff  College 
for  training  along  strategical  and  grand  tactical 
lines.  When  this  system,  adopted  during  the  last 
year,  has  been  thoroughly  put  into  operation  and 
allowed  to  run  for  a  period  of  five  years,  a 
splendid  body  of  aeronautical  officers  will  be  the 
result.  We  had  practically  no  system  before  the 
War,  but  during  the  War  a  great  many  persons 
received  air  training.  The  air  training  of  15,000 
of  our  young  men  is  the  greatest  asset  which  has 
been  left  to  us  from  the  War.  It  takes  at  least  a 
year  to  make  a  man  a  capable  flying  officer,  so  that 
he  is  able  to  be  a  really  good  pilot  in  a  squadron. 
It  takes  many  years  to  make  suitable  higher 
officers  for  the  Air  Service.  That  was  our  greatest 
difficulty  during  the  War,  as  no  one  knew  the 
duties  required  of  superior  commanders  in  this 
new  branch.  It  was  amply  proved  in  the  Euro- 
pean War  that  officers  trained  in  army  methods 
on  the  ground  could  handle  Infantry,  Cavalry, 
Artillery,  or  other  troops,  or  all  of  them  in  com- 
bination, but  it  was  proved  more  strongly  that 


126  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

they  could  not  in  any  way  handle  air  troops  until 
given  a  thorough  aeronautical  education.  To  put 
flying  troops  in  the  hands  of  officers  not  trained 
in  their  use  is  to  throw  them  away. 

Another  thing  which  has  been  conclusively 
proved  is  that  if  a  nation  is  not  ready  with  its 
flying  officers  at  the  beginning  of  a  war,  it  never 
will  be  ready  during  it,  due  to  the  length  of  time 
that  it  takes  to  train  flying  officers.  The  first 
decision  in  a  war  is  going  to  be  sought  in  the  air. 
If  this  is  unfavorable,  the  nation  probably  never 
will  recover  from  it  during  the  existence  of  the 
contest.  Consequently,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a 
large  reserve  of  trained  aviators.  This  we  are 
attempting  to  bring  about  by  taking  flying  cadets 
from  civil  life,  putting  them  through  our  schools, 
and  allowing  them  to  go  in  the  Eeserve  Corps. 
They  can  then  engage  more  and  more  in  com- 
mercial aviation,  or  keep  up  their  flying  in  regu- 
larly organized  reserve  units. 

The  15,000  trained  flying  officers  which  we  had 
at  the  end  of  the  War  were  our  greatest  aero- 
nautical asset.  With  the  exception  of  a  very  few, 
these  are  all  back  in  civil  life.  Many  of  them 
learned  the  air  business  on  the  battlefields  of 
Europe,  in  a  manner  that  cannot  possibly  be 
learned  in  any  other  way.  The  expansion  of  any 
Air  Service  in  this  country  should  include  these 


FLYING  PERSONNEL  129 

men  in  the  reserve,  who  have  learned  their  duty 
during  the  War,  so  that  their  knowledge  may  be 
imparted  to  the  others  with  whom  they  come  in 
contact  and  be  not  completely  lost,  as  is  very  apt 
to  be  the  case  at  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER  XII 

OBTAINING  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL 

THE  most  important  supplies  for  an  air  force 
are  the  airplanes,  and  the  engines  that  impel 
them.  Everything  in  aviation  has  to  start  around 
an  engine.  As  long  as  the  engine  runs  the  air- 
planes can  fly.  When  there  is  constant  trouble 
with  this  complicated  means  of  locomotion,  little 
can  be  accomplished.  The  method  which  has  been 
found  to  be  the  one  that  gives  good  results  in  the 
obtaining  of  material  for  an  air  force  is  to  have 
the  operating  force,  that  is,  the  actual  squadrons 
that  have  to  use  the  airplanes,  tell  the  Technical 
or  Engineering  Section  just  what  they  want — 
for  example,  in  the  case  of  a  pursuit  airplane, 
how  fast  it  should  go,  how  high  it  should  climb 
within  a  certain  time,  what  armament  it  should 
carry,  and  how  many  hours'  gas  it  should  have, 
that  is,  how  long  it  must  remain  in  flight.  These 
things  are  gauged  by  what  the  enemy  may  bring 
against  one's  own  force.  If  the  estimate  of  the 
enemy's  power  is  incorrect,  or  if  the  equipment 

130 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL          131 

is  inferior,  disaster  is  sure  to  result,  because  he 
will  have  better  equipment.  The  actual  pilots 
who  are  engaged  in  the  handling  of  the  airplanes, 
therefore,  must  be  the  final  judges  of  whether 
the  equipment  is  any  good  for  the  object  that  is 
to  be  attacked  or  not. 

The  Engineering  Section  of  the  Air  Service 
obtains  the  characteristics  of  the  airplanes  from 
the  operating  force,  and  causes  models  to  be 
made  of  each  kind  for  test.  The  airplane  is  one 
of  the  most  complicated  military  instruments  that 
has  ever  been  used,  and  an  Air  Service,  in  reality, 
is  harder  to  create  and  carry  on  than  is  any 
other  arm,  harder  even  than  any  army  or  navy. 
After  all  these  years  this  is  the  first  year,  1920, 
in  which  the  American  Air  Service  has  actually 
gotten  out  its  own  types  of  American  airplanes 
for  each  class  of  aviation.  These  have  been  the 
result  of  very  close  co-operation  between  the 
officers  that  had  experience  in  the  European  War, 
and  the  excellent  Technical  Section  in  this 
country,  which  was  organized  during  the  War. 
Another  thing  about  the  construction  of  aero- 
nautical material  is  the  time  required  to  accom- 
plish it.  After  the  Technical  Section  is  told  to 
get  out  a  design,  it  takes  four  or  five  months 
at  least  to  construct  the  first  types.  It  takes  two 
or  three  months  to  test  them  and  make  the  neces- 


133  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

sary  changes,  a  month  or  so  to  give  the  orders 
out  for  their  construction,  and  about  a  year  to 
complete  any  number  of  them.  So  that,  actually, 
it  takes  as  long  to  complete  an  airplane  as  it  does 
to  produce  proper  flying  officers  to  handle  them. 
It  takes  several  years  to  develop  any  one  type 
of  motor  satisfactorily.  As  so  much  general  de- 
velopment has  been  done  along  aeronautical  motor 
types,  up  to  the  present,  progress  along  certain 
lines  of  motor  development  is  easier  than  it  used 
to  be,  but  even  now  the  number  of  airplane  en- 
gines available  for  instant  use  of  up-to-date 
pattern  are  extremely  few  in  number.  It  is  or- 
dinarily estimated  that  five  men  can  make  one 
motor  in  one  month,  and  therefore,  if  you  want 
to  make  7000  motors  within  a  month,  it  would 
require  about  35,000  men.  It  will  require  about 
five  months  to  make  factories  ready  to  begin  work 
on  any  special  motor  that  is  already  developed, 
and  for  which  there  are  complete  construction 
data.  So  if  we  decided  to  start  to-day  on  the  manu- 
facture of  a  great  many  motors  of  new  type, 
it  would  take  at  least  five  months  from  to-day 
to  properly  equip  a  factory  for  their  construc- 
tion, and  then  many  months  to  build  them.  Five 
months  is  too  long  to  wait  after  a  war  is  imminent, 
or  has  been  declared,  to  get  motors.  Therefore, 
the  proper  number  must  be  kept  on  hand  in  time 


o 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL          133 

of  peace  for  immediate  use  in  time  of  necessity. 
About  three  hundred  men  can  make  one  airplane 
in  a  day,  but  in  the  case  of  the  airplane  the 
average  factory  may  be  made  ready  for  its  pro- 
duction in  about  one-half  the  time  that  is  required 
for  motor  production,  so  that,  if  20,000  machines 
are  required,  say,  in  200  working  days,  30,000 
men  will  be  required  to  build  them.  Figuring  a 
10  per  cent  loss  in  personnel  during  that  time,  for 
the  programme  outlined  above,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary that  35,000  men  work  on  the  motors,  30,000 
men  on  the  airplanes,  and  a  10  per  cent  loss, 
6500,  or  a  grand  total  of  71,500  men.  This  num- 
ber of  men  then  could  turn  out  40,000  engines  and 
20,000  airplanes  in  200  days. 

Before  these  motors  and  airplanes  can  be 
placed  in  production,  as  it  is  called,  all  the  raw 
materials,  such  as  iron,  steel,  wood  and  the  neces- 
sary cloth  and  fabrics,  and  everything  pertaining 
to  them,  must  be  assembled  and  put  in  condition 
for  work.  All  of  these  things  were  done  during 
the  War  in  the  time  that  it  took  the  factories  to 
get  ready  to  manufacture.  No  country  in  the 
world  has  the  facilities  for  obtaining  and  gathering 
all  the  materials  that  go  into  the  make-up  of  an 
airplane,  that  the  United  States  has. 

It  is  necessary  at  all  times  to  keep  track  of 
where  these  materials  can  be  obtained,  wood, 


134  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

steel,  wire,  copper,  rubber,  etc.,  how  rapidly  they 
may  be  moved  to  the  factories,  and  how  quickly 
each  part  can  be  put  into  an  airplane.  A  military 
programme,  therefore,  involving  a  rapid  expan- 
sion from  a  peace  to  a  war  basis,  must  con- 
template the  keeping  constantly  on  hand  of  a 
sufficient  number  of  airplanes  to  use  at  once  at 
the  beginning  of  a  war,  and  then  a  rapid  con- 
version of  existing  manufacturing  plants  into 
production  plants  for  aircraft  material  when  war 
seems  imminent. 

The  loss  of  airplanes  in  war  is  tremendous.  In 
Europe  at  certain  stages  during  periods  of  intense 
activities,  we  lost  about  100  per  cent  airplanes 
per  month,  so  that  we  had  to  figure  on  reserves 
accordingly.  In  a  future  war  it  would  appear 
that  we  should  have  at  least  300  per  cent  reserve 
airplanes  on  hand  when  the  war  began,  which 
under  these  conditions  should  last  until  our  means 
of  production  was  started,  in  accordance  with  our 
probable  needs.  The  means  of  production  in  the 
United  States  was  well  tested  out  during  the  War. 
Starting  from  nothing  at  the  beginning  of  the 
War,  it  took  some  time  to  determine  what  types 
of  planes,  engines,  and  equipment  should  be 
used,  so  that  really  serious  work  was  not  started 
on  the  airplane  programme  until  several  months 
after  war  began.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  pro- 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL  135 

duction  of  DH  type  airplanes  arose  to  3878  ma- 
chines per  month  within  fifteen  months  after  the 
initial  order  was  given.  The  construction  of 
metal  planes  will  undoubtedly  facilitate  very 
rapid  construction.  But  no  matter  what  the  de- 
ficiencies of  this  equipment  may  have  been  it 
definitely  shows  that  the  airplane  production 
capabilities  of  this  country  are  very  great,  when 
intelligently  directed  and  handled.  The  airplanes 
have  to  be  submitted  to  tremendous  strains  in 
the  air,  and  as  a  defective  or  weak  part  may 
mean  a  total  destruction,  great  care  has  to  be  taken 
in  the  inspection  of  all  parts  at  the  factories. 

When  the  airplanes  are  received  from  the  fac- 
tories they  are  sent  to  depots  or  receiving  points 
where  they  are  completely  equipped  with  their 
guns,  engines,  attachments  for  cameras  and  wire- 
less, all  their  instruments  and  service  equipment, 
and  are  forwarded  by  rail  or  boat  to  the  point 
nearest  to  the  air  squadrons  that  are  to  use  them. 
The  packing  and  delivery  of  airplanes  is  an  ex- 
tremely laborious  and  costly  process.  Heretofore 
they  have  been  put  up  in  expensive  boxes,  loaded 
on  freight  cars  and  sent  forward.  In  the  future 
it  would  be  much  more  convenient  to  build  special 
cars  for  transporting  the  airplanes,  which  can 
be  used  over  and  over  again.  Likewise,  special 
transports  for  the  carrying  of  airplanes  must  be 


136  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

provided,  because  the  loading  of  wing  structures, 
the  fuselages,  and  all  their  parts  into  ordinary 
boats  always  results  in  great  damage  to  them. 
If  an  expedition  is  to  take  place,  and  it  is  de- 
sired to  have  the  equipment  quickly  available, 
all  parts  of  the  airplanes,  their  motors,  guns, 
ammunition,  bombs,  and  everything  necessary  for 
them,  should  go  over  together  at  the  same  time, 
and  be  in  the  same  place.  If  this  is  not  done 
the  different  parts  that  it  is  necessary  to  use  with 
the  airplane  will  be  separated,  and  the  whole 
organization  will  be  useless;  because  guns  will 
be  one  place,  ammunition  another,  motors  an- 
other, wireless  another,  any  one  of  which  if  lost 
will  render  operations  impossible.  On  account  of 
the  rapid  manner  in  which  airplane  material  had 
to  be  sent  from  this  country  to  Europe  during 
the  War,  it  all  had  to  be  practically  rebuilt  after 
it  reached  the  other  side. 

Once  the  airplane  equipment  has  been  placed 
in  the  farthest  out  supply  depots,  that  are  con- 
nected by  railway  or  steamships  with  the  bases, 
very  careful  consideration  must  be  given  to  the 
location  of  all  the  supply  points  which  are  to 
follow  the  fighting  squadrons.  These  points 
should  be  selected  with  a  view  to  having  them 
make  just  as  few  moves  as  possible,  and  such 
moves  as  are  made  should  be  made  straight  to 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL  137 

the  front  or  straight  to  the  rear,  not  to  one  side 
or  the  other.  All  the  material  should  be  sent  up 
by  rail  just  as  far  as  possible  and  then  taken  on 
by  truck.  All  of  these  means  of  transportation 
should  be  absolutely  under  the  direction  of  that 
branch  of  'the  Air  Service  which  has  charge  of 
the  supplying  of  the  planes.  As  the  front  is 
approached  the  wastage  of  material  increases 
constantly,  and  additional  methods  have  to  be 
taken  for  saving  parts  of  the  partially  destroyed 
airplanes  and  motors  that  it  is  possible  to  repair, 
and  of  course,  supplying  what  is  needed  to  take 
their  place. 

The  supply  method  which  has  been  found  to 
work  the  best  is  that  the  airplane  groups,  that 
is,  four  squadrons  of  100  airplanes,  should  have 
what  is  called  an  air  park  with  them.  These 
parks  had  the  strength  in  personnel  of  about  one 
squadron,  that  is,  roughly,  150  men  were  divided 
into  salvage,  repair  and  supply  elements.  The 
salvage  elements  had  trucks  and  equipment  for 
going  out  and  picking  up  smashed  airplanes  and 
bringing  them  back  to  the  points  where  they 
could  be  shipped  to  the  rear  or  repaired.  The 
supply  element  kept  three  days'  supplies  of  all 
kinds  constantly  on  hand,  particularly  spare 
wings,  landing  gears,  spare  parts  for  engines, 
extra  guns,  cameras,  wireless  instruments,  and 


138  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  hundred  and  one  things  that  go  with  an  Air 
Service  group.  The  repair  element  had  the  mov- 
able machine  shops,  which  were  mounted  on  motor 
trucks,  had  power-driven  machinery,  and  could 
be  put  in  operation  within  a  few  moments  after 
a  stop  was  made. 

The  organizations  further  back,  from  which  the 
air  parks  drew  their  supplies,  were  called  air 
depots.  These  kept  on  hand  about  two  weeks' 
supplies  of  all  kinds,  included  a  salvage  element 
and  a  repair  element  capable  of  carrying  out 
repairs  of  quite  an  extended  nature,  such  as  repair- 
ing wings,  overhauling  engines,  and  considerable 
overhauling  of  armament,  electrical  equipment, 
and  other  accessories.  The  air  depot  is  not  as 
mobile  as  the  park,  but  is  organized  so  as  to  have 
one  echelon  that  can  get  started  within  three  days 
and  move  forward  with  its  supply  section,  while 
the  whole  depot  could  be  moved  within  two  weeks. 
These  depots  were  organized  to  supply  from  30 
to  50  squadrons  or  from  750  to  1250  airplanes. 

The  means  of  supply  outlined  above  has  to  have 
the  strictest  kind  of  technical  direction,  that  is, 
the  Engineering  Department  has  to  watch  the 
state  of  the  equipment,  condition  of  the  engines, 
and  how  they  are  handled  and  run  by  all  con- 
cerned in  their  use.  This,  it  must  be  held  in  mind, 
should  be  different  from  the  tactical  control, 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL  139 

which  pertains  to  its  use  in  battle  and  the  method 
of  operating  against  the  enemy,  so  that  we  have 
two  elements  in  an  Air  Service  that  have  to  work 
side  by  side — that  is,  the  technical  control  of  all 
equipment  by  the  Engineering  Section  of  the  Air 
Service,  and  its  tactical  use  by  the  fighting  forces 
against  the  enemy. 

A  great  deal  of  trouble,  inconvenience,  and  loss 
of  efficiency  has  always  resulted  from  these  two 
features  of  control,  because  they  were  not  well 
understood  by  any  of  the  Air  Services  at  first. 
It  has  always  taken  a  long  time,  and  the  test  of 
war,  to  work  it  out  thoroughly.  What  we  really 
have  in  a  supply  system  is  a  group  of  manu- 
facturers who  produce  the  material  ordere'd  by  the 
Engineering  Section;  next  a  branch  of  the  Air 
Service  that  stores  it  when  finished  and  prepares 
it  to  be  issued  according  to  the  demand  of  the 
air  squadrons  using  it,  then  a  group  of  in- 
spectors that  watches  the  proper  issue,  use,  care, 
repair  and  condition  of  this  equipment.  Com- 
plete lists  have  to  be  kept  on  hand  always  of 
what  supplies  a  squadron  should  have — the  prob- 
able number  of  airplanes  required  in  a  certain 
time,  under  the  estimated  condition  of  a  cam- 
paign, how  long  it  will  take  for  all  of  this  to  get 
to  certain  destinations,  etc.  Having  worked 
these  things  all  out,  an  "  automatic  system "  of 


140  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

supply  is  put  into  effect,  that  is,  so  much  material 
is  sent  forward  every  so  many  days,  no  matter 
whether  asked  for  or  not.  On  account  of  the 
complexity  and  rapidly  changing  character  of  air 
squadrons  this  work  requires  a  great  deal  of 
attention  and  intelligent  study  by  those  who  are 
entirely  conversant  with  the  supply  of  the  Air 
Service,  and  the  greatest  harmony  and  mutual 
trust  and  respect  must  obtain  between  the  head 
of  the  fighting  aviation  and  the  head  of  the  supply 
system. 

Another  important  element  in  a  supply  system 
is  that  airdromes,  as  they  are  called,  that  is  flying 
fields  of  suitable  dimensions,  be  provided  ahead 
of  the  coming  of  the  squadrons  and  groups.  This 
is  very  necessary  because  the  airplane  has  to 
have  a  field  ordinarily  about  a  mile  square,  so 
that  it  may  land,  or  any  number  of  airplanes  may 
land  together,  no  matter  what  the  direction  of 
the  wind  may  be.  The  airplanes  always  must  land 
head  to  the  wind.  The  airplane  must  be  sheltered 
so  as  to  keep  it  from  destruction  by  the  elements. 
It  must  be  well  concealed  so  the  enemy  cannot 
see  it.  The  airdrome  must  be  fairly  dry  so  as 
not  to  fill  up  with  mud  when  it  rains,  and  have 
good  means  of  communication  by  road,  railroad, 
canal  or  steamships  so  that  sufficient  gasoline  and 
oil  can  be  brought  to  it,  together  with  spare  parts 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  MATERIAL          141 

for  the  airplanes  and  other  accessories.  Gasoline 
weighs  about  six  pounds  to  the  gallon.  A  400- 
horse-power  motor  at  full  speed  uses  about  30 
gallons  or  180  pounds  per  airplane  per  hour. 
With  20  pounds  of  lubricating  oil  added  to  this, 
we  may  say  that  an  airplane  eats  up  at  least  200 
pounds  of  supplies  per  hour.  Now  100  airplanes 
will  eat  up  20,000  pounds  or  ten  tons  per  hour, 
so  that  it  may  be  easily  seen  what  a  tremendous 
amount  of  supplies  have  to  be  brought  up  con- 
stantly to  keep  an  air  force  going.  In  addition, 
there  is  all  the  ammunition,  spare  parts,  food  and 
supplies  for  the  men  and  motor  trucks. 

At  the  battle  of  St.  Mihiel  the  Air  Force  as- 
signed to  the  American  Army  under  my  command 
amounted  to,  roughly,  1500  airplanes.  They  re- 
quired 150  tons  per  day  of  gasoline  and  oil  besides 
all  their  other  supplies.  The  whole  airdrome 
plan,  location  of  these  flying  fields,  construction 
of  the  hangars,  smoothing  of  the  ground,  and 
their  supplies,  was  worked  out  for  this,  the 
largest  air  force  ever  assembled  under  one  com- 
mand, by  the  equipment  officer — Major  Jerolemon. 
The  system  worked  perfectly  and  without  a 
hitch.  The  airdrome  companies  that  built  the 
flying  fields  were  equipped  with  all  sorts  of 
machinery,  trained  carpenters  for  the  erection  of 
buildings,  camouflage  experts  for  hiding  the 


142  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

hangars  and  other  houses,  and  engineers  for 
grading,  draining  and  otherwise  preparing  the 
surface  of  the  ground.  All  supply  formations 
were  connected  by  telephone  so  that  if  an  air- 
plane was  lost  on  the  front  line  one  was  immedi- 
ately supplied  to  take  is  place  from  an  air  depot 
and  others  came  up  from  the  interior  of  France 
to  the  air  depot. 

A  good  supply  system  is  always  a  very  difficult 
element  to  have  running  smoothly  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  campaign,  because  during  a  time  of 
peace  all  the  methods  and  ways  of  doing  things 
become  so  stabilized  that  when  a  change  is  brought 
about,  unless  very  capable  men  are  handling  it, 
a  great  mix-up  occurs. 

It  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  in  the  supply 
and  distribution  of  aeronautical  property  in  a 
country,  that  all  of  this  be  done  under  one  direc- 
tion, instead  of  having  it  split  up  between  several 
different  organizations,  each  competing  with  the 
other,  such  as  the  Army  and  Navy,  Post  Office 
Department  and  various  other  executive  depart- 
ments of  the  Government.  There  should  be  one 
department  of  aeronautics  for  handling  the  whole 
thing. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ClVIL.  AND  COMMEKCIAL  AVIATION 

THE  end  of  the  great  War  in  Europe  saw 
aeronautical  interest  turn  from  military  aviation 
to  the  possibility  of  utilizing  aircraft  for  civil 
and  commercial  purposes.  During  the  War,  it 
had  been  necessary  to  develop  essentially  military 
types  which  were  able  to  deliver  the  maximum 
amount  of  punitive  effect  against  the  enemy,  irre- 
spective, very  largely,  of  what  they  cost  or  the 
danger  involved  in  their  operation.  The  commer- 
cial use  of  aircraft,  on  the  other  hand,  calls  for 
sureness  of  delivery  of  whatever  is  carried  to  the 
place  it  is  intended  for  it  to  go,  and,  incidentally, 
of  having  it  get  there  safely  and  in  good  con- 
dition. 

Many  thought  that  aircraft  could  be  turned 
immediately  to  commercial  uses  and  would,  within 
a  short  time,  supplant  automobiles,  trucks,  and 
even  railroads  and  steamships  for  certain  classes 
of  transportation.  While  this  undoubtedly  will 
be  the  case  in  the  future,  there  are  certain  limit- 

143 


144  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

ing  factors  which  will  necessitate  continued  de- 
velopment to  attain  this  end. 

To  begin  with,  any  commercial  venture  must 
show  a  certain  margin  of  profit,  or  at  least  pay 
for  operating  expenses.  When  aircraft  begin  to 
act  as  carriers,  they  come  in  direct  competition 
with  means  of  transportation  which  have  been 
developed  on  the  ground  through  hundreds  of 
years.  It  might  be  well,  therefore,  for  us  to  in- 
quire into  the  relative  cost  of  operation  between 
the  airplane  and  some  of  its  competitors,  and,  in 
this  way,  see  what  it  is  necessary  to  do  to  develop 
the  airplane  as  a  commercial  carrier. 

It  is  said  that  the  airplanes  produced  by  Great 
Britain  during  the  War  cost  more  than  four  dol- 
lars per  pound  of  gross  weight  of  the  whole 
airplane  and  its  load,  and  that  the  cost  of  the 
American  airplanes,  estimated  on  the  same  basis, 
was  from  one  dollar  to  four  dollars  per  pound  of 
gross  weight.  The  cost  of  a  railroad  freight  train 
is  said  to  be  less  than  five  cents  per  pound.  The 
first  cost  is  from  twenty  to  one,  to  eighty  to  one, 
against  the  airplane.  .  The  cost  of  maintenance 
is  very  high  for  aircraft.  The  amount  of  load 
which  can  be  carried  in  proportion  to  its  weight 
is  less  than  one  to  two,  for  an  airplane. 

On  a  railroad  freight  train,  more  than  one-half 
of  the  weight  can  be  carried  in  cargo.  The  amount 


CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION    145 

of  effort  necessary  to  pull  an  airplane  forward 
through  the  air  is  ten  times  as  great  per  unit  of 
weight  as  it  is  for  a  freight  train.  A  freight 
train  can  coast  on  a  two  per  cent  grade,  while 
an  airplane  requires  about  twenty  per  cent  angle 
of  descent  in  order  to  glide.  The  crew  of  a  large 
freight  train  carrying  hundreds  of  tons  is  only 
about  five  or  six  men,  while  the  crew  of  a  large 
airplane  requires  about  the  same  number,  and  only 
carries  one  or  two  tons  of  cargo.  In  other  words, 
on  a  basis  of  ton-miles  of  cargo  transported,  the 
first  cost  of  an  airplane  is  several  times  as  great 
as  that  of  a  freight  train,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
cost  of  fuel,  the  cost  of  crews  for  operation,  and 
the  cost  of  maintenance.  In  the  most  extensive 
and  successful  regular  service  by  airplanes,  the 
cost  has  been  on  an  average  of  about  one-tenth 
of  a  cent  to  one  cent  per  pound-mile;  while,  on 
a  freight  train,  the  cost  is  between  one-tenth  of 
a  cent  and  one  cent  per  ton-mile.  It  therefore 
costs  about  as  much  to  carry  a  pound  of  freight 
for  one  mile  in  an  airplane  as  to  carry  a  ton  of 
freight  on  a  freight  train. 

These  figures  have  been  presented  to  show  air- 
plane transportation  in  its  most  adverse  way,  and 
the  facts  taken  into  consideration  in  the  computa- 
tion of  these  figures  concern  essentially  war 
motors,  developed  for  military  purposes,  and  war 


146  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

airplanes,  created  to  obtain  maximum  speed.  The 
comparison  would  be  something  similar  to  a  racing 
automobile  against  a  truck,  totally  out  of  propor- 
tion to  the  matter  in  hand.  It  is  therefore  neces- 
sary to  develop  reliability  of  operation  and 
sureness  of  delivery  of  the  cargo  carried  to  the 
terminal  station.  This  can  be  done  in  several 
ways. 

First,  by  improving  the  motor.  As  it  is  no 
longer  necessary  in  certain  types  of  commercial 
airplane  motors  to  obtain  the  very  light  weights 
per  horse-power  that  are  necessary  in  war  en- 
gines, a  slight  addition  in  weight  may  be  given 
them  to  bring  about  greater  reliability.  The 
ignition  and  carburetion  systems  df  engines  can 
be  greatly  improved,  and  above  all,  an  airplane 
can  be  provided  with  three  or  more  motors,  so 
that  if  one  is  interrupted  in  its  regular  work,  the 
other  two  can  sustain  the  airplane  in  flight  while 
the  one  out  of  order  is  repaired  in  the  air. 

Next,  devices  for  slowing  up  the  landing  speed. 
The  average  airplane  lands  at  from  forty  to  eighty 
miles  an  hour,  and  it  can  well  be  imagined  what 
the  effect  of  driving  a  motor  car  over  the  ordi- 
nary fields  at  such  speeds  would  be.  Airplanes 
are  much  more  fragile  than  cars.  Slowing  up 
the  landing  speed  may  be  effected  by  varying  the 
amount  of  surface  in  the  wing,  by  the  shape  of 


CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION    147 

the  wing,  and  probably  by  altering  the  form  of 
the  wing  at  certain  times.  The  reversible  pitch 
propeller  gives  good  promise  for  the  future  in 
this  respect.  This  is  the  propeller  in  which  the 
pitch  can  be  reversed  so  that,  instead  of  pulling 
the  airplane,  it  will  push  back  on  it.  Many  other 
schemes  to  insure  slow  landings  are  being  studied. 
The  scientific  development  of  these  things  is  re- 
ceiving a  great  deal  of  study,  which  was  impos- 
sible during  the  War,  because  any  material  that 
was  well  understood  had  to  be  used  instead  of 
experimenting  on  something  new  while  the  fighting 
was  going  on. 

There  appear  to  be  three  distinct  uses  for  air- 
craft as  cargo  carriers — one  for  local  use  in  and 
around  large  cities,  where  the  runs  are  short  and 
where  the  facilities  for  landing  are  very  poor, 
such  as  the  roofs  of  buildings,  small  plots  of 
ground,  and  places  of  that  kind.  A  helicopter, 
or  flying  machine  which  is  able  to  ascend  vertically 
and  land  vertically,  seems  to  be  the  best  solution. 
Some  kinds  of  helicopters  give  good  promise  for 
the  future.  The  principal  trouble  about  this 
class  of  aircraft  has  been  that,  if  for  any  reason 
the  engine  stopped,  the  helicopter  could  not  glide 
to  earth  but  fell  when  its  power  of  sustentation, 
derived  from  the  engines  alone,  was  taken  from 
it.  Some  recent  models  of  helicopters  have  shown 


148  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

that  the  vertical  propellers  may  be  built  in 
a  manner  that  they  can  sustain  the  aircraft  in 
gliding  flight  after  the  engine  has  stopped.  The 
development  of  the  helicopter,  therefore,  seems 
very  probable  in  the  near  future. 

The  next  class  of  transport  requires  that  heavy 
articles  be  carried  between  large  centers  of  popu- 
lation, such  as  from  New  York  to  Chicago,  Chicago 
to  Omaha,  to  St.  Louis,  etc.  For  this  class  of 
work,  large  airplanes  having  many  motors  and 
slow  landing  speed,  and  the  ability  to  get  off  the 
fields  quickly,  are  required.  Some  of  the  war 
types  of  night  bombers  may  act  as  a  start  for 
this  sort  of  a  ship.  Many  types  of  large  air- 
planes are  now  being  developed  for  military  uses, 
which,  with  slight  transformation,  can  be  applied 
to  this  class  of  transportation.  Wherever  the 
distance  is  greater  than  three  hundred  miles,  or 
where  the  sea  intervenes,  such  as  is  the  case  be- 
tween London  and  Paris,  which  requires  a  change 
from  railroad  to  steamship,  etc.,  the  airplane  will 
soon  make  itself  a  worthy  competitor  of  the  rail- 
road train  and  steamboat. 

For  this  class  of  aviation,  it  is  essential  that 
a  well  developed  series  of  airdromes  or  flying 
fields  be  provided  throughout  the  country.  These 
flying  fields  not  only  should  contain  the  place 
where  the  airplane  itself  lands,  but  should  have 


• 


American  Ambulance  Airplane 


s 


lian  Caproni  Passenger  Airplane.  Carries  About  Fifteen  Pas- 
sengers and  can  be  Rapidly  Converted  into  a  Bombardment 
Airplane 


CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION     149 

facilities  for  the  repair  of  the  airplane,  proper 
housing  of  its  crew,  medical  attendance,  gasoline, 
and  oil  stations,  expert  ignition  and  carburetor 
mechanics,  a  system  of  weather  warnings  and  pre- 
dictions, wireless  direction  finders  which  can  guide 
the  airplane  to  its  airdrome  and  notify  it  of  the 
weather  to  be  expected  while  it  is  in  flight,  and 
landing  lights,  so  that  in  case  the  voyage  has  to 
be  made  at  night,  proper  facilities  exist  for  getting 
down  on  to  the  airdrome.  This  whole  airdrome 
scheme  should  be  organized  into  a  system  of  air- 
ways, properly  marked,  throughout  the  country. 
Tops  of  all  railroad  stations  should  be  marked 
with  the  names  of  the  cities  in  which  they  are 
located,  and  certain  signs  should  appear  even  on 
fences  and  all  sorts  of  places  capable  of  being 
painted  a  distinctive  color  to  mark  the  particular 
airway  which  they  are  meant  to  represent. 

A  system  of  airdromes  of  this  sort,  established 
by  the  Government  because  no  commercial  com- 
pany can  possibly  do  so  on  account  of  the  expense, 
is  the  biggest  single  aid  to  commercial  aviation 
that  can  be  given. 

Fog  is  a  great  enemy  of  aerial  locomotion.  All 
sorts  of  schemes  and  devices  to  render  airplanes 
capable  of  navigating  in  the  fog  are  being  de- 
veloped— some  with  considerable  success,  and 
others  which  are  still  in  an  experimental  stage. 


150  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

So  far,  it  may  be  said  that  an  airplane  may  be 
guided  to  the  vicinity  of  an  airdrome  by  radio; 
it  can  maintain  itself  on  its  course,  maintain  its 
speed  so  as  not  to  stall  and  fall  in  the  air,  and 
maintain  its  proper  equilibrium.  It  can  be  guided 
even  to  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  the  ground 
by  radio  while  still  in  the  fog,  but,  from  that 
point  down,  some  means  must  be  devised  for 
dispelling  the  fog  in  order  to  make  it  land.  Vari- 
ous means  have  been  tried  for  dispelling  fog, 
none  of  which  so  far  have  been  very  successful. 
Experiments,  however,  indicate  that  some  success 
may  attend  these  efforts.  At  the  present  time  we 
could  make  transit  through  the  air,  from  place  to 
place,  as  safe  as  in  the  case  of  railroads  and 
steamships  if  we  had  the  equipment  and  organiza- 
tion to  do  it  with.  For  instance,  if  we  had  air- 
planes with  six  engines,  four  of  which  would  fly 
the  plane,  and  all  of  which  could  be  repaired  in 
the  air  in  case  of  trouble,  three  engines  would 
have  to  be  put  out  of  commission  in  order  to 
bring  the  airplane  down.  In  other  words,  six 
engines  would  practically  insure  the  airplane  stay- 
ing in  the  air  for  the  whole  time  of  its  fuel 
capacity.  Our  last  types  of  large  bombers  are 
being  built  in  this  way.  If  these  airplanes  were 
put  on  a  run  which  required  ordinarily  above  five 
hours'  fuel,  such  as  from  New  York  to  Chicago, 


CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION    151 

and  had  a  total  gas  capacity  of  eight  hours,  or 
350  to  400  miles  radius  of  action  in  addition  to 
their  ordinary  trip,  if  fog  or  adverse  weather 
conditions  were  encountered  at  their  point  of 
destination,  they  could  be  warned  of  this  by  wire- 
less while  in  the  air,  and  diverted  to  a  landing 
field  that  was  free  from  fog,  or  other  adverse 
weather  conditions.  In  this  way  crashes  would 
be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  aerial  transporta- 
tion would  be  made  very  sure.  Our  contemplated 
system  of  airways  in  this  country  would  be  able 
to  carry  out  this  method  of  handling  aerial  trans- 
port. 

The  third  class  of  aerial  transport  involves  the 
most  rapid  means  of  transportation  we  know  of 
for  long  distances,  such  as  from  New  York  to 
San  Francisco,  from  New  York  to  Europe,  from 
North  America  to  South  America  or  Asia.  Be- 
cent  experiments  have  shown  that,  with  the  aid 
of  the  turbo  booster,  which  is  a  device  that  sup- 
plies additional  air  to  the  carburetor  of  a  gasoline 
engine,  very  high  altitudes  can  be  obtained,  which 
were  impossible  formerly,  and  that,  at  these  high 
altitudes,  on  account  of  the  rarefied  air  encoun- 
tered, less  resistance  is  offered  for  the  passage 
of  the  airplanes  through  it,  which  allows  the  air- 
plane to  attain  very  much  greater  speeds.  Well 
over  two  hundred  miles  per  hour  have  been 


152  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

obtained  with  an  airplane  having  only  a  speed  of 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  near  the 
ground,  and  it  appears  probable  that  speeds  of 
from  three  to  five  hundred  miles  may  be  obtained 
before  many  years  elapse.  It  has  also  been 
found  through  the  central  part  of  the  United 
States  that,  at  altitudes  of  25,000  feet  and  over, 
constant  winds  blow  from  west  to  east  with  a 
velocity  of  over  one  hundred  miles  an  hour.  If, 
therefore,  the  airplane  speeds  at  high  altitudes, 
combined  with  the  wind,  are  utilized  to  the  fullest 
extent,  and  the  wind  currents  properly  charted 
in  the  upper  atmosphere  all  over  the  world,  a 
means  of  transportation  will  be  developed  which 
will  give  from  three  to  five  hundred  miles  per 
hour  as  an  ordinary  thing. 

If  one  thinks  how  long  it  took  to  develop  steam 
and  electricity,  one  is  struck  by  the  rapid  devel- 
opment which  has  accompanied  airplane  evolution 
since  the  beginning  of  the  War,  and  it  is  possible 
now  to  look  with  great  confidence  to  the  future 
commercial  use  of  airplanes. 

The  United  States  Air  Mail  Service  has  demon- 
strated that  ninety-three  per  cent  of  the  trips  be- 
tween New  York  and  Washingon,  covering  a 
period  of  a  year,  were  completed,  and  that  only 
seven  per  cent  were  a  failure.  They  maintained 
an  every-day  schedule  in  all  kinds  of  weather, 


CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION    153 

using  obsolescent  war  equipment.  This  Air  Mail 
Service  is  being  extended  throughout  the  United 
States,  and  will  give  us  splendid  data  on  all  sorts 
of  matters  concerned  with  the  carrying  of  freight 
and  passengers  by  airplane  over  long  distances. 
It  is  estimated  by  the  English  that  it  costs  about 
forty  dollars  to  send  a  cable  message  of  one 
hundred  words  from  London  to  Johannesburg, 
in  South  Africa,  and  that  it  takes  about  twenty- 
four  hours  for  the  message  to  get  there.  If  an 
airplane  mail  service  were  established  between 
these  two  points,  it  is  estimated  that  a  five-thou- 
sand-word letter  would  get  through  in  six  days  at 
a  cost  of  sixty  cents.  Similar  estimates  have  been 
made  over  other  routes,  so  that  the  airplane  will 
act  as  a  rival  for  the  submarine  cable  in  the 
future. 

Military  aircraft  may  be  used  by  the  civil  de- 
partments of  the  Government  to  a  greater  extent 
than  can  any  other  parts  of  the  war  machine, 
such  as  armies  or  navies,  without  impairing  their 
efficiency.  One  of  these  very  important  uses  is 
in  the  mapping  of  the  country.  Eecently  the 
United  States  Air  Service  mapped  an  area  in 
Michigan  in  seven  hours,  which,  for  the  same 
work,  would  have  taken  a  large  surveying  party 
from  three  to  four  months.  Only  about  forty  per 
cent  of  the  United  States  has  been  surveyed  so 


154  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

far,  and  in  most  places  in  a  very  elementary  way. 
The  Air  Service  could  photograph  all  of  this 
country,  it  is  believed,  and  complete  the  whole 
map  within  three  years  after  the  work  is  started 
on  a  systematic  basis. 

Aircraft  have  been  used  to  great  advantage 
with  the  Forest  Fire  Patrol  in  the  Pacific  States, 
and,  during  the  summer  of  1919,  the  savings  re- 
sulting from  the  use  of  this  patrol  paid  many 
times  over  for  the  whole  appropriation  made  for 
the  Air  Service  of  the  Army.  An  airplane  patrol 
has  been  maintained  along  the  Mexican  border 
which  could  be  used  to  prevent  smuggling,  and 
to  connect  the  people  all  along  that  area  where 
no  other  means  of  communication  are  practicable. 
Also,  aircraft  may  be  used  for  life-saving  work, 
and  for  many  other  things.  In  fact,  there  is  not 
one  department  of  the  Government  which  cannot 
utilize  in  some  way  the  activity  of  aircraft. 

For  both  our  civil  and  commercial  aviation, 
therefore,  we  need  constant  development  along 
the  lines  indicated  above.  The  surplus  material 
which  the  Government  has  on  hand  can  very  well 
be  sold,  under  proper  conditions,  to  commercial 
companies  who  desire  to  develop  aerial  routes 
through  the  country,  or  from  our  own  country  to 
other  possessions,  such  as  Alaska,  Panama,  Porto 
Eico,  etc.  This  is  the  best  use  for  equipment  of 


CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION     155 

this  kind,  which  otherwise  becomes  obsolescent, 
and  is  a  positive  detriment  in  case  of  a  war  against 
a  first-class  power.  The  same  landing  fields,  and 
also  any  airways  which  are  developed  for  the  use 
of  commercial  and  civil  aircraft  operations  are 
also  applicable  to  military  work.  The  whole 
aeronautical  development,  military,  civil  and  com- 
mercial, is  inseparably  involved  in  one  organiza- 
tion. 

The  United  States  so  far  has  no  method  of 
regulating  the  use  of  commercial  aircraft.  It  is 
quite  evident  that  the  Government  should  guar- 
antee that  the  pilots  and  operating  personnel  of 
all  aircraft  be  sufficiently  instructed  and  capable, 
to  allow  them  to  take  up  passengers  and  freight, 
and  that  they  should  be  able  to  direct  the  air- 
planes with  certainty  across  the  country  so  as  to 
arrive  at  their  destination  and  not  crash  into 
cities,  where  many  people  might  be  killed  by  such 
a  disaster.  Also  that  the  structure  of  the  air- 
plane itself  is  proper;  that  it  is  equipped  with 
safety  devices,  and  that  it  is  maintained  in  a  good 
state  of  repair.  All  other  countries  now  have 
rules  along  that  line,  with  a  supplementary  law 
regulating  the  airways,  altitudes  at  which  air- 
craft shall  fly,  methods  of  landing,  what  they  shall 
do  when  they  meet  each  other,  altitudes  at  which 
they  will  have  to  fly  over  cities,  towns,  and  the 


156  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

thousand  and  one  other  things  relating  to  air- 
craft navigation. 

In  the  United  States,  an  interesting  local  ques- 
tion is  presented,  because  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  being  one  of  delegated  power,  only 
has  jurisdiction  over  things  especially  ceded  to 
it  by  the  States.  According  to  the  principles  of 
the  common  law,  the  property  owners  own  all 
the  air  over  their  respective  plot  of  ground,  and 
all  the  earth  under  it  to  the  center  of  the  earth. 
A  railroad  or  a  road,  for  instance,  is  established 
over  a  definite  right-of-way  purchased  or  taken 
from  its  owners  by  the  right  of  eminent  domain; 
traffic  over  it  is  regulated  on  the  basis  of  interna- 
tional or  interstate  commerce  by  the  United 
States.  It  may  be  possible  that  similar  things  will 
have  to  be  done  in  the  regulation  of  air  traffic 
through  the  United  States,  and  that  airways  will 
have  to  be  condemned  and  acquired  by  private 
parties  or  the  Government  for  the  furthering  of 
aerial  navigation. 

The  most  important  element,  however,  is  in 
controlling  foreign  aircraft  which  may  cross  the 
borders,  both  from  a  commercial  standpoint  and 
a  military  standpoint.  Contraband  can  be  more 
easily  imported  by  airplane  than  by  any  other 
means,  and  spying  out  of  our  military  works, 
methods  of  coast  defense,  and  interior  communi- 


Curtiss  Speed  Airplane,  1920.     Capable  of  Going  About  200 
Miles  an  Hour 


Dayton  Wright  Speed  Airplane,  Capable  of  Developing  about 
180  Miles  Per  Hour 


CIVIL  AND  COMMERCIAL  AVIATION     157 

cations  can  be  more  easily  done  in  this  way  than 
in  any  other.  The  only  means  by  which  these 
things  can  be  regulated  is  by  a  definite  air  organ- 
ization, and  a  specific  system  of  rules  well  known 
to  all  and  impartially  enforced.  These  should 
cover  the  general  conditions  of  flying,  how  the 
aircraft  should  be  examined,  how  the  personnel 
should  be  registered  and  where  the  aircraft  should 
fly ;  what  the  prohibited  areas  are  over  which  they 
should  not  go,  the  class  of  inspection  to  which 
the  aircraft  will  be  subjected  when  arriving  from 
or  departing  to  a  foreign  country,  and  the  rules 
which  shall  be  observed  on  all  airdromes  when 
landing  on  or  taking  off  of  them;  what  safety 
provisions  shall  be  included  as  to  fire  prevention, 
as  to  parachutes  for  personnel,  to  be  used  in  case 
of  necessity ;  and  appropriate  penalties  under  the 
law  should  be  attached  to  all  violations  of  the 
aerial  laws.  These,  however,  should  not  be  so 
framed  as  to  restrict  navigation  of  the  air,  but 
should  be  so  broad  and  so  well  applied  that  they 
will  facilitate  it. 

So,  we  may  confidently  expect  that,  when  a 
system  of  airdromes  is  established  through  the 
country,  and  proper  rules  for  the  regulation  of 
aircraft  have  been  prescribed  by  law  and  are  well 
administered,  which  will  guarantee  to  the  public 
safe  transit  through  the  air;  when  we  have  de- 


158  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

veloped  suitable  types  of  aircraft  essentially  for 
commercial  purposes,  we  shall  see  a  greater  de- 
velopment of  commercial  aviation  in  the  United 
States  than  in  any  other  country  in  the  world. 
Our  country  is  suited  to  it ;  the  climate  is  better ; 
our  resources  are  such  that  we  have  all  the  raw 
materials  necessary  for  the  construction  of  air- 
planes ;  and  our  people  take  to  it  very  naturally. 
We  must  remember  that,  as  we  develop  our  com- 
mercial power  in  the  air,  just  so  much  more  do 
we  develop  our  means  of  national  defense. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA 

FUTUEE  control  of  the  seas  depends  on  the 
control  of  the  air.  This  is  so  to  an  even  greater 
extent  than  is  the  case  on  land,  because  on  the 
sea,  the  shipping — using  the  surface  of  the  water 
— cannot  conceal  itself  to  the  same  extent  that 
man  or  his  equipment  can  be  concealed  on  land. 
On  the  land  it  is  of  first  importance  that  the  enemy 
be  prevented  from  seeing  what  the  movements 
may  be  of  one's  own  Army;  but  on  the  sea,  not 
only  is  this  the  case,  but  in  addition  shipping 
forms  an  ideal  target  for  air  attack.  The  only 
thing  which  it  is  difficult  for  air  power  to  destroy 
at  sea  is  the  armored  battleship;  and  this  is 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  problem  of  the 
attack  of  battleships  has  not  been  studied  and 
worked  on  to  the  same  extent  as  has  been  the 
application  of  air  power  against  things  on  land. 

The  characteristics  of  air  power,  in  comparison 
with  sea  power,  are,  first,  the  predominant  feature 
of  speed  which  air  power  possesses.  Navies  move 

159 


160  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

at  the  rate  of  20  miles  an  hour,  and  may  increase 
their  speed  about  30  per  cent  when  going  into 
action;  airplanes  move  in  large  bodies  at  the  rate 
of  100  miles  an  hour,  or  over.  They  fight  at 
speeds  of  about  150  miles  an  hour;  while,  the 
fastest  ones  are  approaching  a  rate  of  200* miles 
per  hour.  The  range  of  view  from  an  airplane 
is  almost  infinite  as  compared  with  that  from  a 
ship  on  the  water.  At  a  height  of  15,000  feet,  a 
radius  of  view  of  about  50  miles  is  possible — 
that  is,  a  circle  with  a  diameter  of  100  miles.  The 
size  of  an  air  force  that  can  be  employed  in  the 
air  is  unlimited.  They  communicate  with  each 
other  by  radio  telephony,  radio  telegraphy,  or 
visual  signals,  which  have  the  speed  of  light.  Air- 
planes can  deploy  into  battle  formations,  from 
their  traveling  formations,  in  from  one  to  two 
minutes.  Their  routes  are  through  the  air,  and 
in  accordance  with  their  capacity  for  covering 
distances — mountains,  deserts,  or  oceans  are  no 
obstacle.  An  air  force  moves  from  three  to  six 
times  as  fast  as  the  fastest  ships  of  the  Navy. 
From  its  speed  alone  the  air  force  has  the  power 
of  taking  the  offensive  against  the  Navy  and  en- 
gaging it  under  its  own  conditions.  The  only 
defense  against  an  air  force  is  another  air  force ; 
and,  as  an  indispensable  prelude  to  any  engage- 
ment on  the  water,  there  must  be  an  air  battle 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  161 

to  determine  which  side  shall  control  the  area 
above  the  water  which  is  to  be  used  by  a  fleet. 
Otir  doctrine  of  Aviation,  therefore,  should  be  to 
find  out  where  the  hostile  air  force  is;  to  con- 
centrate on  it  on  convergent  lines,  and  destroy  it; 
and  then  to  attack  the  hostile  shipping  with  aerial 
weapons,  so  as  to  accomplish  its  destruction. 

Many  persons  are  led  to  believe  that  flying  over 
the  water  requires  a  different  kind  of  aviation, 
different  methods  in  a  military  way,  different 
tactics,  and  different  training.  This  feeling  was 
brought  about  largely  as  a  result  of  the  World 
War,  where  there  was  practically  no  air  fighting 
over  the  water,  and  where  the  air  forces  used 
were  employed  merely  for  reconnaissance  for 
submarines,  and  in  attack  against  them.  They 
did  not  have  to  fight  other  air  forces  to  get  to 
their  destinations,  and  flew  about  in  an  unmolested 
manner.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  an  entirely 
artificial  use  of  aviation,  because  the  Allies  held 
the  sea  to  a  greater  extent  than  has  any  nation, 
or  combination  of  nations,  in  any  of  the  wars  of 
the  past.  Their  only  menace  was  the  submarine. 
In  a  future  contest  between  countries,  the  control 
of  the  ocean  lanes  will  rest  on  a  decisive  battle 
between  the  opposing  Pursuit  Aviations;  and  in 
order  to  accomplish  this  all  the  air  strength  which 
a  nation  possesses  will  have  to  be  concentrated  at 


162  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  decisive  point.  The  principal  difference  be- 
tween the  employment  of  our  airplanes  over  the 
water  and  over  the  land  is  in  the  character  of 
airdrome,  or  landing  place,  that  has  to  be  D0ecL 
This  landing  place  may  be  on  the  land  itself; 
it  may  be  on  the  water  itself ;  it  may  be  a  floating 
airdrome  on  the  water,  snch  as  an  airplane  car- 
rier, or  a  floating  landing  platform;  or  it  may 
be  even  on  an  airship  snch  as  a  Zeppelin.  The 
reason  that  an  airplane  has  a  forced  landing  is 
either  due  to  exhaustion  of  its  fnel  supply,  or 
on  account  of  some  accident.  The  number  of 
forced  landings  from  accidents  are  now  very  few, 
and  are  becoming  fewer  as  the  airplanes  and 
engines  are  perfected. 

Airplanes  that  are  designed  to  land  on  the 
water  have  permanent  floats,  or  boats,  under  them. 
These  constructions  offer  so  much  resistance  to 
the  air,  and  are  so  heavy,  that  they  cut  down  the 
airplane's  speed  so  much  that  they  cannot  com- 
pete, as  to  speed  or  maneuverability,  with  air- 
planes of  the  land  type.  As  the  only  reason  for 
having  these  floating  supports  under  them  is  in 
case  they  land  on  the  water;  and  as  it  is  v. 
known  among  airmen  that  in  case  of  war  sea- 
planes of  all  kinds  are  practically  he: 
form  of  airplane  is  being  abandoned  more  and 
more  for  military  purposes  as  time  goes  on,  be- 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  163 

cause  they  would  unquestionably  be  destroyed 
the  minute  an  enemy  was  met  that  was  properly 
organized  for  air  fighting  over  the  water.  Up  to 
recently,  military  aviation  over  the  water  has 
been  thought  of  by  the  ordinary  person  essentially 
in  connection  with  navies.  At  first  the  develop- 
ment of  aviation  over  the  water  took  place  in  a 
manner  similar  to  that  which  had  occurred  on 
land;  that  is,  merely  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  navies, 
for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitering  to  tell  where 
the  enemy  fleet,  or  enemy  formations,  were,  for 
the  adjustment  of  artillery  fire,  and  for  keeping 
track  of  parts  of  their  own  fleet.  This,  in  theory, 
is  a  very  simple  matter — when  no  enemy  is  in 
the  air  to  stop  one's  work.  The  airplanes  could 
go  out,  find  the  enemy,  report  where  he  was  by 
wireless,  wait  for  the  first  shots  to  come  from 
the  cannon,  tell  their  own  fleet  where  they  were 
striking,  and  proceed  to  adjust  the  fire  in  the 
ordinary  way;  that  is,  reporting  the  position  of 
each  shot  with  respect  to  the  target.  When  hostile 
Pursuit  Aviation  is  encountered,  however,  this 
will  all  be  changed.  There  were  so  few  battles 
between  fleets,  as  compared  with  the  constant 
battles  between  armies,  in  the  recent  War,  that 
aviation  over  the  water  was  not  developed  to  as 
groat  an  extent  as  it  was  over  the  land;  and 
nothing  was  done  to  show  the  absolute  identity 


164  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  the  methods  required  in  both  cases,  and  that 
work  in  the  air  was  essentially  an  air  matter, 
no  matter  whether  it  was  over  the  water  or  over 
the  land.  Even  at  the  battle  of  Jutland,  neither 
the  British  nor  German  fleets  had  any  Pursuit 
Aviation  with  them.  In  this  contest,  the  German 
Zeppelins  kept  up  a  constant  patrol  over  the 
North  Sea,  from  north  tc  south,  along  a  definitely 
established  line,  and  reported  to  their  own  fleet 
the  whereabouts  of  the  British  Naval  detach- 
ments. The  British  planned  to  send  their  main 
fleet  out  from  Scapa  Flow,  and  attack  the  German 
main  fleet;  while  a  detachment  of  the  British 
fleet  was  supposed  to  come  up  from  the  south,  get 
in  behind  the  German  fleet,  and  cut  off  their  line 
of  retreat.  The  Zeppelins,  however,  reported  all 
these  moves  to  their  own  fleet,  which  made  it  pos- 
sible for  the  Germans  to  extricate  themselves, 
and  at  the  same  time  cause  the  British  fleet  a 
great  deal  of  damage.  Had  the  Zeppelins  been 
shot  out  of  the  air  by  Pursuit  Aviation,  or  by 
other  Zeppelins,  the  German  fleet  would  have  been 
without  eyes,  and  the  superior  British  fleet  would 
have  destroyed  it  The  British  themselves,  in 
this  battle,  sent  out  a  reconnoitering  seaplane, 
which,  although  its  speed  was  scarcely  100  miles 
an  hour,  was  able  to  find  the  German  fleet  and 
report  back  to  the  British  fleet  without  being 


German  Ail-Metal  Seaplane 


American    Light    Weight    Bombardment    Airplane.      Capable    of 
Carrying  1000  Pounds  of  Bombs. 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  165 

molested  in  any  way.  It  is,  therefore,  evident 
that  if  observation  is  to  be  carried  out  in  the  air 
for  fleets,  particularly  with  the  long  ranges  at 
which  artillery  now  fires — that  is,  from  40,000 
to  60,000  or  more  yards — it  will  be  necessary  to 
fight  off  the  hostile  aviation  before  any  observa- 
tion work  for  a  fleet  can  be  done.  This,  then, 
requires  that  Pursuit  Aviation  be  equipped  so 
that  it  can  fight  over  the  water  as  well  as  over 
the  land. 

The  basis  of  Pursuit  Aviation  is  the  flight ;  that 
is,  the  greatest  number  of  pursuit  airplanes  that 
can  be  directed  personally  by  one  man  in  the 
air.  It  ranges  from  not  less  than  five,  to  not  more 
than  seven  airplanes;  and  is  the  actual  fighting 
unit  in  Pursuit  Aviation.  Pursuit  Aviation  relies 
for  its  effect  on  an  enveloping  or  surrounding 
attack  in  three  dimensions — that  is,  from  above, 
from  underneath,  and  on  the  same  level.  The 
squadron,  composed  of  three  flights,  is  organized 
to  bring  a  surrounding  attack  in  one  dimension, 
the  flights  attacking  successively  one  after  the 
other.  Three  squadrons  acting  together  are  used 
for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the  opposing  aviation 
on  the  same  level,  from  above,  and  from  under- 
neath; while  a  fourth  squadron  is  put  into  the 
formation  as  a  reserve.  This  is  the  reason  for 
the  group  organization  of  four  squadrons  of 


166  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

twenty-five  airplanes  each,  or  a  total  of  100  air- 
planes, and  is  the  fighting  unit  of  aviation.  If 
Pursuit  Aviation  is  not  organized  according  to 
this  system,  it  cannot  cope  with  an  aviation  that 
is  organized  to  fight  according  to  these  principles. 
The  first  nation  to  see  this  clearly  was  England, 
because  her  whole  existence  is  bound  up  in  keep- 
ing the  ocean  lanes  free  to  and  from  the  British 
Isles.  The  problem,  of  course,  was  primarily  to 
equip  Pursuit  Aviation  with  airdromes  that  could 
move  over  the  water,  so  that  Pursuit  Aviation 
could  be  kept  up  with  and  ahead  of  her  fleets. 
Early  in  the  European  War,  she  began  to  equip 
herself  with  airplane  carriers.  The  first  one  of 
these  was  merely  a  large  commercial  steamer 
equipped  with  a  deck  on  which  the  airplanes 
could  take  off  and  land,  with  a  hangar  deck  im- 
mediately below  this  in  which  the  airplanes  could 
be  kept  ready  for  flight,  and  with  machine-shop 
facilities,  spare  parts  for  the  airplanes,  and  all 
other  accessories  for  keeping  them  in  condition 
on  the  ship.  Her  first  carrier  was  the  "Argus," 
which  had  a  deck  535  feet  long  and  68  feet  broad. 
Her  hangar  held  twenty  airplanes,  or  practically  a 
squadron.  Her  speed  was  only  20  knots.  It  was 
evident  at  once  that  any  vessel  having  such  a  slow 
speed  would  not  only  be  a  prey  to  other  war- 
ships, but  also  submarines — not  to  mention  de- 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  167 

struction  by  hostile  air  attack — and  there  were 
many  other  things  about  this  carrier  which  were 
not  satisfactory,  as  it  was  the  first  attempt  in 
this  direction.  The  next  carrier  to  be  built  was 
a  warship  being  constructed  for  a  South  American 
country,  which  was  transformed  into  a  carrier 
and  renamed  the  " Eagle."  This  ship  is  capable 
of  carrying  about  40  airplanes  in  her  hangars, 
or  two  squadrons.  Still  another  carrier  is  the 
"Hermes,"  with  a  speed  of  25  knots;  while  more 
are  being  built.  The  British,  however,  recognized 
that  these  vessels  could  not  operate  far  enough 
in  advance  of  their  fleets  so  as  to  go  out  there 
and  fight  for  control  of  the  air,  but  would  have 
to  stay  near  the  fleet  and  be  protected,  because 
their  speed  was  not  great  enough  to  protect 
themselves.  Consequently,  they  took  the  vessels 
that  were  most  readily  available,  that  had  the 
required  speed  and  at  the  same  time  fighting 
power  to  ward  off  other  vessels — that  is,  their 
battle  cruisers — and  transformed  them  into  a 
combination  carrier  and  battle  cruiser.  They  are 
now  reported  to  have  a  division  of  battle  cruisers, 
or  four  of  these  high-speed  vessels,  equipped  with 
airplanes.  They  all  have  a  speed  of  about  31 
knots,  or  35  miles  an  hour ;  and  have  a  very  heavy 
gun-power — equal  to  that  of  any  battleship — and 
with  the  airplane  carriers  attached  to  them,  they 


168  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

have  the  power  of  concentrating  the  equivalent 
of  one  or  more  groups  of  Pursuit  Aviation  wher- 
ever they  desire. 

No  other  navy  in  the  world  is  so  equipped  at 
the  present  time,  and  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that 
even  with  this  comparatively  crude  equipment 
for  handling  air  units  over  the  water,  the  British 
can  seize  and  hold  command  of  the  air  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  fleet,  and  render  a  navy  opposed  to 
them  not  only  totally  blind — which  is  well  known 
to  be  a  decisive  feature  of  modern  warfare — but 
can  also  attack  the  opposing  navy  through  the 
air  with  aerial  weapons,  so  as  to  destroy  it 
without  the  assistance  of  the  gun  fire  of  their 
ships.  The  air  battle,  in  all  probability,  would 
take  place  from  50  to  200  miles  away  from  the 
airplane  carriers,  where  hostile  gun  fire  would 
play  no  part  whatever,  and  where  their  own  navy 
would  run  no  risk. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  whole  development 
for  the  use  of  aircraft  over  the  water  is  not  in 
air  tactics,  in  types  of  airplanes  particularly,  or 
in  the  securing  and  training  of  air  personnel; 
but  is  essentially  a  development  of  floating  air- 
dromes. It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  floating 
airdromes  must  be  made  to  suit  the  requirements 
of  the  airplanes  first — that  is,  if  we  are  going  to 
fight  and  drive  out  of  the  air  an  opposing  avia- 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  169 

tion,  we  must  bring  to  bear  against  it  airplanes 
that  can  do  the  work.  Next,  the  airplane  carriers 
must  be  able  to  defend  themselves  against  attack 
on  the  water.  As  to  the  first  requirement,  the 
airplane  carriers  should  be  capable  of  accom- 
modating a  complete  tactical  unit,  or  one  group 
of  100  pursuit  airplanes ;  and  in  the  second  place, 
in  order  to  be  able  to  defend  itself,  and  be  capable 
of  taking  the  offensive  quickly,  it  should  have  a 
speed  of  at  least  40  knots,  or  around  50  miles 
an  hour,  which  is  entirely  possible  at  this  time. 
To  answer  these  requirements,  the  airplane  car- 
rier should  be  about  1000  feet  in  length,  with  a 
landing  deck  of  this  size.  Its  width  would  be 
over  100  feet,  and  it  could  be  equipped  with  all 
the  facilities  for  handling  the  airplanes  quickly 
either  by  day  or  by  night.  Even  one  airplane 
carrier  of  this  kind  would  give  the  side  possessing 
it  complete  control  over  the  water  at  the  present 
time,  and  render  an  opposing  fleet  incapable  of 
acting  with  its  Observation  Aviation. 

The  first  problem  over  the  water,  therefore,  as 
it  is  over  land,  is  to  assure  command  of  the  air 
by  Pursuit  Aviation;  the  next  problem  is  to  de- 
velop aerial  means  of  destroying  any  enemy 
battleships  that  may  be  on  the  water.  This  can 
be  done  by  airplanes  carrying  bombs,  torpedoes 
and  chemical  weapons.  As  airplanes  always  have 


170  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  power  of  initiative  in  offense  against  battle- 
ships, it  is  entirely  a  question  of  developing 
proper  weapons  for  sinking  them.  Almost  noth- 
ing has  been  done  along  this  line.  What  has 
been  done  might  almost  be  described  as  "playing" 
with  weapons  adapted  for  some  other  device 
which  has  been  used  by  either  armies  or  navies. 
The  bombs  and  fuses  so  far  used  were  developed 
for  work  on  land;  the  torpedoes  that  they  were 
trying  to  use  from  airplanes  are  those  that  were 
used  from  ships.  These  torpedoes  were  made  to 
be  launched  at  a  rate  of  about  16  yards  a  second; 
the  speed  of  the  slowest  airplane  launching  them 
is  about  90  yards  a  second.  Their  specific  gravity 
is  almost  the  same  as  that  of  the  water,  so  that 
if  they  are  launched  from  any  height  they  im- 
mediately sink;  and  the  airplanes  have  to  get 
within  20  or  30  feet  of  the  water  in  order  to  make 
them  work  properly.  Torpedoes  are  launched 
sideways  from  surface  vessels.  They  attempt  to 
launch  them  forward  in  the  air,  and  have  to 
approach  within  1000  yards  or  so  of  a  battleship 
in  order  to  be  successful  in  their  attempt.  All 
of  these  things  almost  amount  to  making  an 
adaptation  of  the  water  torpedo  for  air  work 
against  moving  shipping  almost  useless  as  a  prac- 
tical proposition.  The  Italians,  among  others, 
have  devised  torpedoes  with  wings  on  them  which 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  171 

drop  off  as  they  strike  tlie  water,  thereby  allow- 
ing the  torpedo  to  be  launched  from  a  height. 
This  is  the  beginning  of  a  solution  of  this  prob- 
lem. The  point  is,  however,  that  torpedoes,  or 
any  projectiles  or  armament,  must  be  designed 
essentially  for  work  in  the  air. 

Airplane  carriers  to  carry  Bombardment  Avia- 
tion should  be  provided,  to  accompany  the  pursuit 
carriers,  which  can  be  done  just  as  it  was  for 
Pursuit  Aviation.  In  order  to  assure  close  bom- 
bardment attack  of  navies,  and  to  nullify  any 
dangerous  effect  which  anti-aircraft,  machine 
guns,  or  searchlights  might  have  on  these  planes 
our  Attack  Aviation  should  be  developed  for  use 
at  very  low  altitudes  against  them;  that  is,  the 
armored  attack  planes  could  engage  them  in 
single  column,  so  as  to  keep  the  battleship  under 
constant  machine  gun  and  cannon  fire  at  an  alti- 
tude not  to  exceed  from  100  to  300  feet.  This 
would  keep  any  observation  personnel,  anti-air- 
craft crews,  and  look-outs  on  the  battleships  pretty 
well  occupied  in  watching  this  low  flying  attack, 
if  nothing  else.  Our  experience  in  the  War  has 
shown  us  that  we  can  nullify  searchlights  and 
anti-aircraft  equipment  to  a  great  extent  in  this 
way;  so  that  really  the  solution  of  control  of  the 
sea  lanes  is  not  in  a  great  battleship  and  its 
accessories,  but  in  the  provision  of  suitable  air- 


172  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

plane  carriers.  These  should  be  provided  to 
carry  aviation  in  the  following  proportions: 
about  60  per  cent  Pursuit  Aviation,  20  per  cent 
Bombardment  Aviation  and  20  per  cent  Attack 
Aviation. 

For  long  distance  surveillance  over  the  seas 
(by  surveillance  is  meant  going  out  and  remain- 
ing in  observation  of  what  one  sees,  and  reporting 
back  from  the  position  by  radio  telegraphy,  in- 
stead of  coming  back  and  making  a  personal 
report),  airships  should  be  used.  The  number  of 
the  airships  should  be  dependent  on  the  amount 
of  front  that  has  to  be  covered.  To  cover  our 
Eastern  and  Western  Coasts,  and  our  North  and 
South  Frontiers,  no  less  than  20  airships,  con- 
stantly in  commission,  are  necessary.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  Germany  had  123  airships  in 
commission  during  the  War.  By  airships  are 
meant  large  rigid  cruisers  of  the  Zeppelin  type 
— not  the  little  gas  bags  that  we  are  used  to 
seeing  in  this  country,  which  have  little  value  ex- 
cept for  training.  Again  we  find  England,  next 
to  Germany,  taking  up  this  important  problem 
and  solving  it.  Airships  cannot  be  provided  over 
night;  and  no  matter  what  the  engineering  knowl- 
edge may  be  as  to  the  construction  of  these  giants 
of  the  air,  and  no  matter  how  expert  the  per- 
sonnel may  be  in  the  handling  of  smaller  airships, 


•2.1 


§ 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  173 

a  great  deal  of  practice  is  needed  in  order  to 
perfect  the  work  of  these  important  elements  in 
aeronautics. 

The  mission  of  the  airship  over  the  sea,  from  a 
military  standpoint,  is  to  find  out  and  report  the 
existence,  strength,  position  and  probable  inten- 
tion of  hostile  air  forces  and  shipping;  to  fight 
hostile  airships;  to  attack  surface  craft;  and  then 
to  be  used  as  a  post  of  command  for  aircraft 
with  which  they  are  acting.  The  airship  has  just 
as  great  use  over  land,  if  not  greater,  as  over 
water  from  the  standpoint  of  reconnaissance, 
offensive  work  against  enemy  elements,  and  as 
means  of  transportation.  An  efficient  Zeppelin 
service  depends  primarily  on  an  efficient  system 
of  airship  stations  or  docks  where  these  ships  can 
be  brought  into  port,  housed  under  all  conditions 
of  climate,  and,  in  case  there  is  a  storm  where 
they  desire  to  land,  they  can  have  an  alternate 
place  to  go  to,  and  from  which  they  can  leave 
under  all  conditions  of  atmosphere.  These  stations 
should  be  arranged  with  hangars  radiating  out 
from  a  central  turn-table;  and  the  construction 
and  maintenance  of  such  stations  by  the  Govern- 
ment would  not  only  insure  their  use  in  case  of 
military  operations,  but  also  would  encourage  the 
civil  and  commercial  use  of  these  great  carriers. 

Each  nation  is  solving  its  air  problem  in  ac- 


174  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

cordance  with  its  particular  position  and  national 
policy.  Germany  sees  no  use  in  having  aircraft 
carriers  in  a  future  war  with  England,  because 
the  distances  from  England  to  the  Continent  are 
so  short  that  airplanes  can  operate  directly  from 
land  bases.  The  maximum  distance  from  the 
northern  part  of  the  British  Isles  to  the  Euro- 
pean Continent  is  about  500  miles;  while  the 
minimum  distance  across  the  English  Channel  is 
only  18  miles.  Germany's  air  policy  against  Eng- 
land, therefore,  would  be  to  construct  airplanes 
capable  of  sinking  the  British  shipping.  Of 
course,  in  order  to  do  this,  they  must  be  covered  by 
sufficient  Pursuit  Aviation  to  insure  their  action. 
The  air  force,  therefore,  will  take  the  place  of 
Germany's  destroyed  navy,  not  only  as  a  means 
of  defense  on  land  and  sea,  but  as  her  great 
offensive  weapon.  France  sees  an  enemy  to  the 
north  of  her  as  her  greatest  menace  in  the  future ; 
and  knows  that  these  same  heavy  airplanes  de- 
signed for  work  over  the  North  Sea  against  the 
British  shipping  can  knock  out  her  centers  of 
production,  large  cities  and  railroad  lines  to  a 
great  extent.  She  also  knows  that  the  German 
nation  is  much  more  populous,  and  will  become 
even  more  so,  than  is  France ;  that  Germany  can 
concentrate  her  fighting  forces  probably  quicker 
than  France  on  the  frontier.  Her  air  service  is 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  175 

therefore  designed  to  fight  the  Germans  in  the 
air,  which  means  Pursuit  Aviation;  aiid  to  attack 
the  German  columns  as  they  march  to  the  front 
and  on  the  roads  and  railroads,  which  requires 
a  sort  of  combination  of  Bombardment  and  Attack 
Aviation.  England,  as  has  been  explained  before, 
has  to  insure  her  sea  lanes  of  communication; 
and  has  really  solved  the  problem  to  a  great 
extent  already.  Our  problem  in  America  is  quite 
different  from  what  we  find  in  Europe.  We  have 
3000  miles  of  water  to  the  east  of  us;  we  have 
about  twice  that  distance  directly  west  of  us.  It 
is  true  that  in  the  North  Atlantic,  by  going  from 
Canada  from  island  to  island,  there  is  no  stretch 
of  water  more  than  about  300  miles ;  while  in  the 
North  Pacific,  Behring  Straits  are  52  miles  wide, 
with  two  islands  in  the  middle,  making  a  maximum 
distance  of  21  miles  over  the  water.  At  the 
present  moment,  no  nation  is  equipped  with  suffi- 
cient means  of  transport  through  the  air  to 
utilize  these  routes  quickly  as  a  means  of  supply 
for  her  airplane  units.  Germany  could  have  done 
it  with  her  airships  had  they  not  been  dismantled 
and  taken  away  from  her  by  the  Allies.  The 
control  of  these  waters,  therefore,  resolves  itself 
into  a  question  of  aircraft  carriers.  Aircraft 
carriers  cost  far  less  than  the  cost  of  one  battle- 
ship, and  can  be  produced,  equipped,  and  put  in 


176  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

service  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  When 
this  comes  about,  the  air  force  will  constitute  the 
first  line  of  defense  of  the  country.  The  Navy 
may  be  second,  or  it  may  be  entirely  eliminated. 
Not  to  recognize  this  fact  is  to  do  the  "ostrich 
act,"  and  to  hide  our  head  in  the  sand  while 
everyone  else  in  the  world  is  progressing  along 
this  line.  It  will  not  come  at  once,  but  by  pro- 
gressive steps.  In  case  of  war,  the  same  air 
organizations  that  fight  over  the  land  will  embark 
on  the  aircraft  carriers,  and  fight  over  the  water. 
Directional  wireless  will  bring  the  planes  back 
to  their  carriers  either  by  night  or  by  day.  The 
whole  force  will  be  handled  from  the  air  by  radio, 
and  the  carriers  will  move  at  their  great  speed 
wherever  they  are  directed  to  go.  A  nation  un- 
equipped to  concentrate  her  whole  air  force  over 
the  water,  if  the  decision  lies  there,  can  just  as 
well  leave  her  navies  tied  up  to  the  wharves,  in- 
stead of  sending  them  out  to  certain  destruction 
against  a  hostile  country  equipped  for  this  pur- 
pose. England  to-day  can  hold  absolute  mastery 
over  the  sea  against  a  navy  several  times  her 
strength,  and  apparently  will  soon  be  in  a  posi- 
tion where  she  will  need  little  or  no  navy  to 
guard  her  sea  lanes  in  case  of  danger,  as  the 
air  force  will  do  it.  A  contest,  therefore,  between 
the  United  States  and  a  country  equipped  for 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  177 

fighting  in  the  air  would  be  disastrous  at  the 
present  time.  Having  assumed  command  of  the 
sea,  the  aircraft  carriers  could  launch  their  air- 
ships against  our  cities — such  as  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  and  other  points 
further  inland — and  cause  a  tremendous  destruc- 
tion, if  not  paralysis,  to  our  means  of  communica- 
tion and  production.  It  is  often  said,  by  those 
unfamiliar  with  airplane  bombardment,  that  a 
great  deal  of  damage  was  not  caused  by  them 
during  the  war.  These  statements  often  have  not 
taken  into  consideration  the  character  of  equip- 
ment that  was  used  at  that  time  compared  to 
what  it  is  now.  At  that  time  the  airplanes  could 
not  carry  the  heavy  weights,  nor  were  they 
equipped  with  the  heavy  bombs  that  it  is  now 
possible  to  use.  One  heavy  bomb  will  destroy 
a  whole  block  of  ordinary  houses  and  buildings 
such  as  one  finds  in  this  country.  Whole  districts 
in  Europe  were  denuded  of  their  population 
entirely,  due  to  airplane  bombardment.  When 
industrial  districts  were  attacked,  the  workers 
were  made  so  nervous  that  whenever  the  buzz  of 
an  airplane  was  heard  it  made  them  stop  work 
and  think  or  talk  about  it  during  the  rest  of  the 
day ;  while  at  night  the  constant  fear  of  the  bom- 
bardment attacks  prevented  sleep.  These  dis- 
tricts were  kept  entirely  in  the  dark  for  months. 


178  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

The  result  was  a  partial  paralysis  of  all  traffic 
at  night,  causing  a  great  many  accidents,  wear 
and  tear  on  the  equipment,  and  innumerable  other 
serious  inconveniences,  all  as  a  result  of  these 
bombardments. 

Our  country,  therefore,  if  unequipped  with  the 
proper  aviation,  in  case  of  war,  would  become 
exposed  to  the  air  attack  not  only  from  the  car- 
riers, but  probably  from  bas<-  d  and  occu- 
pied on  land.  The  only  defense  against  it  is  a 
proper  air  organization  for  the  defense  of  the 
coast.  This  should  consist  of  a  good  airship  or- 
ganization, with  some  twelve  airship  stations  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  country;  next,  a  line  of 
observation  airdromes,  deployed  along  the  coast 
at  about  200-mile  intervals  (these  would  be  for 
the  purpose  of  determining  where  the  hostile  air 
force  or  airplane  carriers  were  coming  from) ; 
with  airplanes  capable  of  maintaining  themselves 
from  eight  to  twelve  hours  in  constant  flight.  Be- 
hind this  line  of  observation  we  should  concentrate 
our  offensive  elements  of  aviation;  that  is,  our 
pursuit,  attack,  arid  bombardment  units,  in  central 
positions  so  that  they  could  be  launched  to- 
gether against  the  hosti]'-  i  A  direct  attack 
against  the  hostile  airplane  carriers  would  force 
hostile  Pursuit  Aviation  to  rally  for  the  def 
of  their  carriers,  arid  cause  the  battle  for  control 


AVIATION  OVER  THE  SEA  179 

of  tho  air  to  bo  fought  in  and  around  thorn,  in- 
stead of  over  our  own  territory.  In  case  the 
hostile  air  forces  were  destroyed,  the  airplane 
carriers  could  be  attacked  directly  by  the  air- 
ships; but  without  equipment  of  this  kind,  the 
airplane  carriers  could  escape  without  molesta- 
tion. We  can  obtain  more  security  from  a  wise 
organization  of  our  air  forces,  dollar  for  dollar, 
as  a  means  of  coast  defense,  than  from  any  other 
one  element.  While  we  need  every  branch  of 
national  defense  to  form  the  complete  chain,  we 
must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  our  aviation 
at  present  is  the  weakest  link  in  our  chain,  that 
wo  are  the  one  country  which  can  maintain  and 
support  an  aviation  more  easily  than  any  other, 
and  that  it  is  more  important  for  our  national 
defense  that  we  maintain  a  large  air  force  than 
is  the  case  with  any  other  nation. 


CHAPTER  XV 

How   WE    SHOULD   HANDLE    OUB   AERONAUTICAL 
DEVELOPMENT 

WE  have  seen  in  previous  chapters  what  the 
characteristics  of  air  power  are,  what  we  may 
expect  from  it  in  national  defense,  and  what  prob- 
lems lie  before  us  in  civil  and  commercial  avia- 
tion. Many  are  led  to  believe  that  a  commercial 
airplane  is  a  thing  entirely  distinct  and  different 
from  a  military  airplane.  This  is  only  the  case 
in  so  far  as  Pursuit  and  Attack  Aviation  are 
concerned. 

The  problems  confronting  commercial  aviation 
are: 

First,  local  aircraft  service  in  and  around 
large  centers  of  population,  such  as  New  York, 
for  instance,  where  the  landing  fields  are  very 
small  and  where  it  is  necessary  to  arise  almost 
vertically  in  the  air  and  land  in  a  similar  manner. 
Airplanes  which  are  suitable  for  this  kind  of 
work  are  the  very  best  kind  that  could  be  obtained 
for  observation  work  with  armies.  They  could 

180 


Thomas  Morse  Pursuit  Airplane.   Speed  About  150  Miles  Per  Hour 


Airplane  Equipped  with  Air  Bags  for  Floating  on  the  Water 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  181 

accompany  the  troops,  would  need  no  especially 
prepared  airdromes,  would  be  easy  to  use  at 
night  as  well  as  in  the  daytime,  and  could  be 
made  very  simply  so  as  to  require  a  very  low 
up-keep.  This  same  character  of  airplane  could 
be  used  for  observation  work  from  battleships, 
or  any  floating  airdrome  having  a  limited  deck 
space. 

The  next  class  of  commercial  aviation  is  that 
required  for  carrying  heavy  weights  between 
cities,  such  as  New  York  and  Chicago,  Chicago 
and  San  Francisco,  or  from  North  to  South 
America.  These  airplanes  should  have  three  or 
more  motors,  so  that  if  one  ceased  to  work  while 
in  the  air,  the  others  would  sustain  the  ship  while 
the  unusable  motor  was  being  repaired.  These 
airplanes  should  be  completely  equipped  with 
wireless  appliances,  so  that  they  will  be  kept  con- 
stantly informed  of  the  weather  and  meteoro- 
logical conditions  en  route  to  and  at  the  station 
at  which  they  are  desirous  of  stopping.  If  for 
any  reason  the  weather  changed  en  route,  they 
could  be  notified  and  could  change  their  airdrome 
for  landing.  Most  storms  are  not  over  two  hun- 
dred miles  in  diameter,  so  that  if  an  airplane  of 
this  kind  had  ten  hours '  fuel,  and  could  make  the 
trip  from  New  York  to  Chicago  in  seven  hours, 
it  would  always  have  three  hours'  fuel,  or  more 


182  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

than  three  hundred  miles  of  cruising  ability  left. 
Multi-engine  airplanes  with  large  gas  capacity 
such  as  this  could  fly  both  day  and  night.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  conditions  are  usually  better  for 
flying  at  night  than  in  the  daytime.  The  winds 
have  less  velocity;  the  visibility  is  very  good; 
and  the  aids  to  navigation  are  automatically  in 
place — that  is,  the  lights  in  the  large  cities.  These 
are  visible  at  great  distances,  and  are  on  the 
main  routes,  from  east  to  west  and  from  north 
to  south,  which  our  future  airways  will  follow. 
The  reason  that  we  do  not  fly  more  at  night  at 
the  present  time  is  due  to  the  fact  that  our  air- 
planes have  only  one  or  two  motors,  which,  if 
they  get  out  of  order,  force  an  immediate  landing 
and  almost  sure  destruction  of  the  airplane  and 
its  occupants.  With  multi-motored  airplanes,  this 
danger  of  forced  landing  will  be  almost  entirely 
obviated.  We  have  multi-motored  airplanes  at 
the  present  time  which  carry  from  three  to  five 
thousand  pounds  of  cargo.  This,  of  course,  will 
be  very  greatly  increased  in  the  future.  These 
same  commercial  airplanes  will  be  of  the  greatest 
use  in  war  for  bombardment  purposes,  for  carry- 
ing troops  and  supplies,  and  as  ambulances  or 
even  temporary  hospitals.  Very  little  change 
would  be  necessary  in  order  to  suit  them  for 
immediate  military  work;  and  when  they  are  de- 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  183 

signed,  they  could  just  as  well  be  provided  with 
the  necessary  structural  parts  on  which  the  bomb- 
dropping  mechanism,  under  supports  for  tor- 
pedoes, ammunition  recesses,  parachute  holders, 
and  other  military  accessories  are  needed.  Our 
latest  bombers  are  designed  so  that  the  whole 
nose  of  the  main  fuselage,  which  holds  the  major- 
ity of  the  military  equipment,  can  be  removed  and 
another  nose  for  civil  aviation  can  be  substituted. 
In  the  third  class  of  commercial  aviation — that 
is,  the  airplanes  required  to  transport  passengers 
for  long  distances  at  great  speed — we  require 
again  the  multi-motored  airplane,  built  on  speed 
lines,  for  high  altitude  work.  The  way  this  high 
altitude  is  obtained  at  the  present  time  is  by  the 
use  of  the  turbo-booster.  The  turbo-booster  con- 
sists of  a  turbine,  which  is  actuated  by  the  exhaust 
from  the  engine,  and  revolves  at  the  rate  of  from 
twenty-two  to  thirty  thousand  revolutions  per 
minute.  This,  in  turn,  operates  an  air  pump  or 
compressor,  which  delivers  compressed  air  to  the 
carburetor,  thereby  keeping  up  a  proper  mixture 
of  air  and  gasoline  for  combustion  in  the  engine, 
which  would  otherwise  be  lost  at  high  altitude 
due  to  the  rarefaction  of  the  air.  With  this  ar- 
rangement a  400  h.p.  engine  is  able  to  deliver 
as  great  power  at  25,000  feet  as  a  1000  h.p.  engine 
would  be  if  it  did  not  have  the  turbo-booster.  As 


184  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

we  go  higher  up  in  the  air,  the  air  becomes  less 
dense,  and  consequently  offers  less  resistance  to 
a  body  moving  through  it ;  and  we  are  therefore 
able  to  obtain  very  much  greater  velocities.    So 
far,  with  the  very  crude  equipment  that  we  have 
used  for  experimentation  at  high  altitudes — that 
is  around  30,000  feet — we  have  obtained  .sp^ 
well  over  200  miles  per  hour.     These  airplanes 
also  will  have  to  be  provided  with  nacelles  or 
cabins  in  which  a  proper  mixture  of  air  can  be 
kept  for  the  passengers  and  crew,  with  the  nec- 
essary heating  arrangements  to  guard  against  1 
extreme  cold  of  high  altitudes,  and  with  electric 
controls  for  handling  the  airplane  from  within 
the  cabin,  so  as  to  get  away  from  the  mechanical 
controls  that  we  use  at  the  present  time,  which 
require  holes  through  the  outer  covering  of  the 
cabin  and  admit  the  outside  atmosphere.    TL 
airplanes  will  very  probably  be  of  single  wing 
or  monoplane  construction,  with  the  motors 
in  the  leading  edges  of  the  wings,  the  landing 
gears  folding  up  into  the  body  of  the  airplane,  and 
air  chambers  inside  of  the  wing  so  that  they  will 
be  able  to  float  when  they  land  on  the  water. 
This  cla.ss  of  commercial  airplanes  will  be 
tirely    suitable    for    military    surveillance    work. 
By  surveillance  we  mean  the  airplanes  that 
out  to  find  an  enemy  and  then  keep  watch  over 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  185 

him,  and  report  from  where  they  are,  by  wireless, 
what  his  strength,  position  and  probable  intentions 
are,  instead  of  leaving  him  and  coming  back  to 
make  a  personal  report. 

In  the  economical  organization  of  our  Air 
Service,  we  should  take  into  most  serious  con- 
sideration the  classes  of  aviation  that  have  a 
prospective  use  in  civil  work.  It  is  true  that  our 
Pursuit  Aviation — that  is,  the  high  speed,  heavily- 
gunned  equipment  that  is  necessary  to  pursue 
and  attack  an  enemy — will  have  little  or  no  ap- 
plication in  commercial  aeronautics.  Nor  will  the 
large  armored  ships  carrying  machine  guns  and 
cannon.  But  all  other  elements  of  commercial 
aviation  will  have  a  most  distinct  military  use, 
as  will  all  the  pilots,  mechanics  and  personnel 
concerned  in  their  manufacture,  as  exactly  the 
same  basic  training  has  to  be  given  to  all  flying 
personnel  no  matter  what  kind  of  aviation  they 
may  be  engaged  in.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to 
teach  flying  officers  everything  necessary  about 
troop  formations  on  the  ground;  that  is,  the  dif- 
ference between  Infantry,  Cavalry,  Artillery, 
Tanks  and  Transport;  and  it  is  comparatively 
easy  to  teach  them  what  the  different  formations 
mean  and  are  intended  for.  All  of  our  observers 
during  the  War  learned  this  within  a  couple  of 
months  after  their  flying  education  liad  been  com- 


186  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

pleted.  The  same  is  true  over  the  water,  except 
that  it  is  much  easier ;  that  is,  the  different  forma- 
tions of  a  fleet,  and  the  different  kinds  of  vessels 
can  be  very  easily  learned.  Any  extended  service 
in  either  the  Army  or  Navy  to  learn  what  these 
formations  are  is  not  only  unnecessary,  but  takes 
a  lot  of  time  away  from  the  flying  officer  which 
otherwise  should  be  spent  in  the  air. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  military  advan- 
tages of  commercial  airplanes  can  be  said  with 
even  greater  force  about  commercial  airships. 
Every  airship  has  a  most  distinct  military  use, 
because  the  very  elements  of  speed,  weight-carry- 
ing ability,  cruising  radius,  and  reliability  in 
flight,  are  just  what  we  need  in  military  aero- 
nautics. The  success  of  handling  airships  depends 
primarily  on  what  we  call  a  ground  organization 
— that  is,  a  system  of  air-ports  and  docks  for 
these  great  ships.  As  with  the  large  airplanes, 
so  with  the  airships ;  we  should  establish  our  air- 
ship stations  in  groups  which  cafi  be  used  not 
only  for  certain  lines  of  airships,  but  as  ultimate 
landing  places  in  case  that  the  airship  station 
which  is  the  destination  of  a  certain  trip  is  cov- 
ered by  a  storm  when  the  airship  arrives.  One 
or  two  airship  stations  will  do  little  or  no  good 
towards  the  development  of  commercial  airship 
transportation.  It  is  notable  that  Germany  has 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  187 

equipped  her  country  with  a  great  many  airship 
stations,  so  arranged  that  they  cover  the  principal 
highways  of  commerce  and  still  give  alternate 
landing  places  that  can  be  used  in  case  of  storms ; 
and  on  account  of  this  organization,  commercial 
airships  have  carried  over  two  hundred  thousand 
passengers  without  the  loss  of  a  single  life,  and 
with  a  regularity  of  schedule  that  is  even  better 
than  that  of  the  railroads  and  steamships. 

There  are  commercial  organizations  in  the 
United  States  to-day  that  would  immediately  em- 
bark on  the  development  of  airships  as  commer- 
cial carriers  could  they  be  furnished  with  airship 
docks,  in  a  similar  way  for  instance,  that  New 
York  furnished  municipal  wharves  for  steamships 
engaged  in  trans-Atlantic  service.  An  airship 
station  should  consist  of  the  hangars  themselves, 
each  of  which  should  be  1000  or  more  feet  long, 
300  or  more  feet  wide  and  250  feet  high.  These 
should  be  arranged  in  star  shape  around  a  central 
turn-table  or  round  hangar,  equipped  with  ma- 
chinery for  swinging  the  airships  when  drawn 
into  this  from  the  radiating  hangars.  By  this 
system  the  airship  can  always  be  landed  head  to 
the  wind,  and  always  taken  out  of  its  hangar 
head  to  the  wind,  which  makes  it  doubly  easy  to 
handle,  and  practically  eliminates  accidents. 
Most  of  the  accidents  occur  when  an  airship  is 


188  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

brought  in  side  to  the  wind,  and  has  to  be  put 
into  its  great  hangar  in  this  way.  Circular  air- 
ship stations  of  this  kind  have  proved  their  great 
value  in  Germany.  Airship  stations  should  be 
located  primarily  from  a  strategical  standpoint— 
that  is  where  the  greatest  number  of  lines  of 
communication  come  together.  New  York,  for 
instance,  is  such  a  place.  Next,  they  should  be 
located  with  due  regard  to  the  meteorological 
conditions — that  is,  a  place  with  low  wind  veloci- 
ties, not  subject  to  sudden  storms,  minimum 
variation  between  heat  and  cold,  and  having  pre- 
vailing winds  in  the  desired  direction.  The  loca- 
tion itself  should  be  sheltered  as  far  as  possible 
to  guard  against  adverse  weather  conditions. 
Third,  the  location  of  the  airship  stations  should 
be  one  easy  to  defend  against  attack  of  hostile 
guns  or  air  forces,  and  should  be  provided  with 
an  adequate  defense  against  aircraft.  In  the 
United  States,  we  believe  that  there  is  a  constant 
current  of  air  blowing  from  west  to  east  all 
through  the  northern  part  of  the  country,  and 
increasing  in  velocity  as  we  go  up.  Our  experi- 
ence indicates  that  this  wind  has  a  velocity  of 
from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  miles  per  hour 
at  altitudes  of  over  25,000  feet,  and  it  appears 
that  this  current  keeps  up  all  the  way  to  Europe. 
It  also  is  apparent  that  we  get  a  current  from 


*?* 

r 

5 


o 

!l 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  189 

west  to  east  across  the  Atlantic  and  through  the 
southern  part  of  the  United  States.  We  do  not 
yet  know  whether  this  same  current  crosses  the 
Pacific  or  not;  but  we  are  inclined  to  think  that 
it  does.  The  same  locations  for  commercial  air- 
ship stations  would  be  the  best  locations  for  our 
war  airship  stations,  because  they  offer  locations 
which  have  the  shortest  lines  to  where  the  enemies' 
corresponding  strategical  centers  are.  In  the 
arrangement  of  our  airship  stations,  we  should 
therefore  contemplate  a  deployment  across  the 
northern  part  of  the  country,  one  across  the 
southern  part  of  the  country,  and  another  set 
of  stations  through  the  central  part  of  the  coun- 
try, to  act  as  an  intermediate  series  of  stations. 
Looking  at  them  from  east  to  west,  there  should 
be  an  airship  station  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York, 
one  in  the  vicinity  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  one  in  the 
northern  part  of  Florida.  Airships  going  from 
America  to  Europe  could  undoubtedly  leave  from 
the  New  York  area  and  avail  themselves  of  the 
favorable  winds  in  going  eastward ;  those  coming 
from  Europe  could  land  at  the  Southern  station, 
or  turn  up  the  Coast  and  land  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  Chesapeake,  and  avail  themselves  of  the  favor- 
able air  currents  in  the  South.  In  the  central 
part  of  the  United  States  we  should  have  an  air- 
ship station  in  the  vicinity  of  Chicago,  one  in  the 


190  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

vicinity  of  St.  Louis  and  one  in  the  vicinity  of 
New  Orleans.  These  stations  would  serve  both 
for  the  east  and  west,  and  north  and  south 
traffic ;  and  in  addition,  the  station  in  the  vicinity 
of  New  Orleans  would  serve  as  a  point  of  de- 
parture for  South  America.  (The  solution  of  the 
passenger-traffic  problem  to  South  America  will 
come  with  the  airship,  primarily,  because  to  estab- 
lish quick  communication  from  the  United  States, 
for  instance,  to  Chile  or  Argentina  on  the  ground 
and  water  requires  too  devious  a  route,  and  too 
many  changes  of  transportation.)  There  should 
be  two  intermediate  stations  between  the  central 
part  of  the  United  States  and  the  Pacific  Coast — 
one  in  the  vicinity  of  San  Antonio,  Texas,  to 
cover  the  Mexican  Border  and  for  transportation 
into  Mexico ;  another  one  in  the  vicinity  of  Ogden, 
which  is  the  meeting  point  of  the  routes  from 
San  Francisco,  Puget  Sound  and  Southern  Cali- 
fornia. The  three  on  the  Pacific  Coast  should 
be  first  in  the  Puget  Sound  area,  next  in  the  area 
of  San  Francisco,  and  third  in  the  San  Bernardino- 
Eiverside  Section  of  Southern  California.  With 
a  system  of  airship  stations  such  as  this,  pas- 
senger and  mail  traffic  could  be  handled  from 
east  to  west  and  north  to  south  in  about  one- 
third  of  the  time  that  is  possible  by  any  means 
on  the  ground;  the  assurance  of  delivery  of  pas- 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  191 

sengers  and  freight  would  be  even  greater  than 
that  on  the  ground;  and  the  comforts  of  travel- 
ing would  be  incomparably  better.  The  cost  of 
the  installation  of  such  stations  would  be  really 
saved  by  the  benefits  which  would  be  derived. 
For  instance,  it  is  maintained  by  competent  naval 
authorities  that  one  airship  saves  two  battle 
cruisers  to  a  fleet.  A  battle  cruiser  to-day  costs 
about  $45,000,000  completely  equipped.  As  a 
means  of  supply  for  aviation  units  operating 
where  they  cannot  be  supplied  conveniently  over 
roads,  we  would  save  the  services  of  thousands 
of  motor  trucks  and  would  provide  a  means  of 
transportation  that  can  deliver  its  cargo  where 
no  other  can.  The  saving  in  time  in  transmission 
of  mail  and  passengers  would  be  incalculable. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  each  station  would  not  cost 
more  than  $10,000,000 — only  a  small  part  of  what 
terminal  facilities,  either  for  railroads  or  steam- 
ships, do  in  large  cities.  The  Grand  Central 
Station  installation  in  New  York  is  said  to  have 
cost  $200,000,000;  the  new  railway  station  in 
Chicago,  $60,000,000;  and  the  one  in  Washington, 
$30,000,000.  There  are  correspondingly  expensive 
railway  terminals  in  all  other  cities.  The  air- 
ships can  carry  one  hundred  first-class  passengers 
between  New  York  and  Chicago ;  an  average  rail- 
way express  train  carries  about  150.  The  cost  of 


192  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  railway  train  with  its  tracks  is  many  times 
greater  than  the  airship.  The  commercial  use  of 
airships  is  not  possible  until  a  development  of 
airship  stations  takes  place  as  indicated  above. 
A  commercial  company  would  have  great  difficulty, 
or  find  it  practically  impossible  to  develop  such 
a  system.  The  Government,  therefore,  should 
undertake  this  development,  as  an  element  in  its 
national  defense  system,  and  allow  any  commer- 
cial airships  which  pass  the  Government  inspec- 
tion to  use  these  airship  docks  on  their  voyages. 
For  several  years  at  least  90  per  cent  of  avia- 
tion will  be  military  in  character;  and  in  the 
organization  of  our  air  resources,  we  must  be 
concerned  primarily  with  its  rapid  utilization  for 
war.  All  the  personnel,  equipment  and  methods 
of  work  should  be  modeled  along  that  line.  At 
the  same  time,  the  Aviation  Service  should  be 
run  and  handled  in  the  most  economical  manner 
possible.  This  may  be  accomplished,  first,  by 
keeping  just  as  few  men  permanently  in  the  ser- 
vice as  possible,  but  having  them  in  trained  and 
organized  reserves,  distributed  in  the  great 
centers  of  population  throughout  the  country. 
Next,  as  many  of  the  airplanes  as  possible  should 
be  used  in  pursuits  that  are  useful  and  profitable 
in  times  of  peace.  The  Forest  Patrol  of  the 
Army  Air  Service  alone  saved  the  Government 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  193 

more  than  the  combined  appropriations  for  Air 
Service  cost  the  Government  during  the  years 
1919;  and  will  save  even  more  during  the  year 
1920.  These  airplanes  could  be  used  for  mapping 
the  country,  which  at  present  (and  after  140 
years  of  our  Government),  is  only  40  per  cent 
mapped.  We  believe  that  this  could  be  finished, 
with  a  proper  organization  and  system,  within 
three  years  by  airplanes.  The  landing  fields  and 
airdromes  could  be  almost  made  to  pay  for  them- 
selves, by  carrying  advertising  on  the  fences 
around  them;  by  giving  various  exhibitions 
throughout  the  year  at  different  times,  for  which 
a  small  fee  would  be  charged;  and  by  giving 
courses  in  flying  and  aeronautics. 

We  should  develop  and  construct  metal  air- 
planes which  can  be  stored  for  long  periods  of 
time  without  deterioration.  At  the  present  time 
it  is  almost  as  costly  to  put  a  wood  and  wire  air- 
plane into  storage  as  it  is  to  fly  it  all  the  time, 
because  the  wood  dries  out  and  cracks,  or  gets 
mouldy  and  rots,  so  that  each  time  the  airplanes 
are  taken  out  of  storage  they  have  to  be  entirely 
gone  over,  cloth  removed  from  their  wings,  wires 
replaced  where  rusty,  new  cloth  put  on  wings,  and 
almost  a  complete  rebuilding  of  the  airplane  has 
to  take  place.  Not  only  is  this  costly  from  the 
standpoint  of  material,  but  from  the  standpoint 


194  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  time,  if  it  is  necessary  to  have  the  airplanes 
available  at  once  to  meet  an  attack  from  an  enemy, 
it  is  extremely  dangerous.  At  the  present  time, 
it  would  take  over  three  months  for  us  to  take 
out  airplanes  we  have  in  our  war  reserve  and 
make  them  available  for  service  with  their  squad- 
rons and  groups.  By  that  time,  if  we  were  at- 
tacked by  a  first-class  air  power,  all  the  fighting 
in  the  air  would  be  over;  our  great  cities  and 
strategical  centers  subjected  to  the  unhindered 
attack  of  hostile  aviation;  and  our  country  over- 
run by  enemy  aircraft.  Good  metal  airplanes 
would  do  away  with  many  of  these  disadvantages. 
We  must  therefore  work  up  our  means  of  pro- 
ducing suitable  metal  for  airplanes,  and  of  con- 
structing them  of  that  substance  instead  of  wood. 
The  storehouses  where  the  reserve  of  aviation 
should  be  kept  should  correspond  with  the  locali- 
ties where  their  use  will  be  required  to  the 
greatest  extent.  The  most  dangerous  area,  of 
course,  is  from  Boston  to  Chesapeake  Bay,  and 
from  New  York  to  Chicago  in  the  East;  and  in 
the  West,  Puget  Sound,  San  Francisco  and 
Southern  California.  These  places  are  all  coin- 
cident with  our  centers  of  population,  and  natur- 
ally these  same  places  contain  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  pilots  that  were  trained  during  the  War. 
These  same  pilots  will  soon  lose,  not  only  their 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  195 

ability  as  pilots,  but  very  largely  their  interest, 
if  they  do  not  see  something  done  to  further 
aviation  in  their  particular  vicinity.  They  have 
all  entered  civil  life,  but  are  just  as  much  inter- 
ested in  the  aviation  part  of  the  national  defense 
as  they  ever  were;  and  in  the  event  of  reserve 
organizations  of  airplanes  being  formed  in  their 
vicinity,  90  per  cent  of  them  would  be  more  than 
willing  not  only  to  join  but  to  do  everything  they 
could  to  further  aviation.  There  is  a  greater 
community  of  feeling  among  people  who  go  in 
the  air  than  is  the  case  in  any  other  calling.  This 
is  due  to  the  character  of  the  men  who  have  gone 
into  this  work,  the  common  danger  to  which  they 
are  all  exposed,  and  the  appreciation  of  these 
qualities  of  one  by  another.  We  should  there- 
fore organize  the  excellent  trained  air  personnel 
that  we  now  have  distributed  all  through  the 
country  into  regular  reserve  air  organizations; 
not  only  so  as  to  utilize  their  own  services,  but 
because  many  of  these  learned  the  air  business 
in  the  War,  which  gives  them  an  advantage  that 
they  could  obtain  in  no  other  way,  and  which 
they  will  be  able  to  transmit  to  those  with  whom 
they  come  in  contact.  If  we  lose  this  invaluable 
asset  which  we  now  have,  we  will  never  be  able 
to  get  it  again.  We  have  every  active  element  in 
this  country  to  create  a  splendid  aviation;  and 


196  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

we  are  the  only  country  that  has  all  the  personnel, 
all  the  raw  material,  all  the  factories,  and  every- 
thing necessary  to  be  entirely  self-contained  in 
this  respect. 

It  may  be  asked  why  we  need  an  Air  Service  at 
all.  The  answer  is  the  same  as  is  the  necessity 
for  an  army  or  a  navy.  As  to  the  size  of  the 
Air  Service,  we  must  gauge  that  on  the  size  of 
an  Air  Service  that  may  be  brought  against  us, 
and  on  the  size  and  extent  of  our  country,  because 
if  we  are  attacked  we  must  protect  it  at  all  points. 
Our  land  and  water  boundaries  in  this  country 
are  tremendous.  The  Atlantic  Coast  line  is  5560 
miles  long;  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  line,  3640;  the 
Mexican  border,  1744  miles;  the  Pacific  Coast 
line,  2730  miles;  and  the  Canadian  border,  3898 
miles ;  making  a  total  of  17,572  miles.  The  whole 
area  of  the  United  States  is  3,026,789  square 
miles.  This  is  entirely  exclusive  of  Alaska  and 
our  Insular  Possessions.  Our  cities  are  much 
more  vulnerable  to  air  attack  on  account  of  the 
character  of  their  construction,  which  is  very 
inflammable,  than  are  the  cities  of  Europe,  which 
have  a  maximum  of  stone  and  masonry  in  their 
edifices. 

England  alone,  with  her  airplane  carriers,  can 
transport  across  the  sea  400  airplanes  in  the 
hangars  and  on  decks  of  these  ships — set  up  and 


An  American  Heavy  Weight  Bombardment  Airplane,  (above)  in 
tine  Air,  and  (below]  on  the  Ground 


HANDLING  AERONAUTICAL  DEVELOPMENT  197 

ready  for  flight — and  an  additional  800  as  cargo. 
These  can  cross  the  Atlantic  in  a  maximum  of 
seven  days'  time,  while  the  additional  800,  or 
1200  in  all,  can  be  made  available  for  service 
within  a  week  after  a  landing  is  effected.  France 
has  over  3000  airplanes  in  her  units  now  in  ser- 
vice. Were  Germany  allowed  to,  she  would  have 
a  greater  number  of  airplanes  than  either  of  these 
countries.  The  United  States  to-day  cannot  turn 
out  one  single  squadron  equipped  with  airplanes 
of  the  latest  design  to  combat  the  air  forces  of 
a  first-class  power.  What  is  the  reason  for  this, 
it  may  be  asked?  The  answer  is  that  we  have 
had  no  real  air  organization  in  this  country.  We 
were  plunged  into  the  European  War  without 
one,  and  we  have  emerged  from  the  War  without 
one.  What  we  have  are  from  ten  to  twenty  dif- 
ferent Government  organizations,  concerned  more 
or  less  with  aviation  as  an  auxiliary  to  their 
main  activities;  with  a  result  that  there  is  no 
combination  of  effort  worthy  of  the  name,  and 
at  least  a  thirty  to  forty  per  cent  unnecessary 
overhead,  lost  motion,  and  unpractical  direction 
of  aeronautical  affairs.  Neither  is  there  a  single 
man  or  a  single  bureau  responsible  for  aviation 
and  for  its  complete  development  in  this  country. 
The  Army  has  a  part;  the  Navy  has  a  part;  the 
Post  Office  Department  has  a  part ;  all  the  bureaus 


198  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  the  Government  are  either  using  or  want  to 
use  certain  parts  of  aviation,  and  each  follows  its 
own  route  more  or  less  in  the  obtaining  and  dis- 
tribution of  its  duties.  There  are  no  laws  regu- 
lating commercial  use  of  airplanes,  no  system  of 
inspection  of  aircraft  or  aircraft  pilots,  and  no 
aid  or  fostering  of  aviation. 

Therefore,  as  things  stand  at  present,  in  case 
of  war  the  United  States  has  not  now  in  being 
an  organization  which  could  develop  a  national 
aviation,  maintain  an  aviation  or  fight  an  aviation 
as  a  national  force.  This  would  have  to  be  re- 
created as  it  was  during  the  last  war.  This  is 
a  terrible  situation  to  contemplate,  in  view  of 
the  decisive  influence  of  aviation  on  the  wars  of 
to-day.  It  must  be  apparent  to  all.  We  should 
organize  a  department  of  aeronautics  at  once, 
which  is  the  only  solution  of  this  important 
question. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

WHAT  THE  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  Do  Now  TO 
ESTABLISH  ITS  AERONAUTICAL  POSITION 

THE  first  thing  that  the  United  States  should 
do  is  to  establish  a  Department  of  Aeronautics, 
specially  charged  with  the  development  of  all 
matters  relating  to  the  air.  This  department 
should  be  co-equal  with  the  War  and  Navy  De- 
partments in  all  respects.  The  person  appointed 
to  head  this  bureau  should  be  held  responsible 
to  the  President  and  Congress  that  aviation  is 
developed  and  fostered,  and  that  the  maximum 
benefit  is  derived  from  every  cent  that  is  spent 
by  the  people  for  aeronautics.  This  organization 
would  make  one  man  specifically  responsible  that 
aviation  was  developed,  so  that  if  anything  were 
wrong  with  it  there  would  be  just  one  man  to 
hold  accountable  for  the  shortcomings,  and  not 
about  fifteen  or  twenty  as  is  the  case  at  present. 
In  the  organization  of  the  department,  cognizance 
should  be  taken  first  of  our  military  needs,  what 
the  lessons  of  the  European  War  were  regarding 

199 


200  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

aviation,  and  how  these  can  be  applied  to  our 
particular  position  and  situation  in  this  country. 
Our  solution  of  the  aeronautical  questions  in- 
volved will  be  quite  different  from  those  that 
obtain  in  Europe;  and  we  must  not  make  the 
mistake  of  blindly  following  what  others  do,  but 
must  develop  our  own  resources  to  correspond 
to  our  particular  needs.  The  Department  of  Aero- 
nautics will  give  a  chance  for  this  to  occur,  by 
really  fostering  our  aeronautical,  tactical,  tech- 
nical and  organizational  genius  in  this  country, 
which  I  am  certain,  after  contact  with  all  the  other 
Services,  to  be  superior,  if  it  is  given  a  chance. 
First,  we  must  take  into  consideration  the  mili- 
tary aspects  of  aeronautics,  and  constitute  a  real 
air  force,  which  can  be  mobilized  with  rapidity 
,at  the  outbreak  of  a  war.  The  first  battles  of  the 
i/  future  will  be  held  in  the  air,  and  the  results  of 
these  battles  will  either  determine  who  shall  win 
the  war  or  have  a  very  marked  influence  on  it. 
Consequently,  speed  of  mobilization  is  the  first 
requisite.  Our  air  force  should  consist  of  some 
5000  airplanes,  with  twice  that  number  in  reserve 
in  the  storehouses,  that  would  be  available  for 
replacements  during  the  first  two  months  of  a 
war.  In  quantity  production,  the  cost  of  metal 
or  composite  airplanes  would  be  not  much  more 
than  one-fourth  of  what  we  now  have  to  pay  for 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO    201 

the  few  wood  and  wire  experimental  types  of 
planes  that  we  have.  Fifteen  hundred  (1500)  of 
these  airplanes  should  be  assigned  permanently 
to  the  Army  and  Navy  for  their  own  immediate 
use  in  observation,  including  the  observation  of 
the  Coast.  Twenty- two  (22)  airships  should  be 
provided  and  distributed  at  the  rate  of  two  to 
each  airship  station  mentioned  in  a  former 
chapter.  The  remaining  3500  airplanes  should  be 
organized  with  60  per  cent  of  them  as  Pursuit 
Aviation,  20  per  cent  as  Bombardment  Aviation, 
and  20  per  cent  as  Attack  Aviation.  Twenty 
(20)  airplane  carriers  should  be  provided  for 
these  airplanes  when  used  over  the  water.  (We 
believe  that  the  provision  of  these  airplane  car- 
riers would,  in  a  few  years,  render  it  unnecessary 
to  maintain  surface  battleships,  battle  cruisers, 
torpedo  boats,  or  most  of  the  naval  surface  craft.) 
These  Air  organizations  should  be  distributed 
throughout  the  country  among  the  centers  of  popu- 
lation according  to  their  size;  for  instance  the 
greatest  number  should  be  near  New  York,  the 
next  greatest  should  be  near  Chicago,  etc.  About 
one-sixth  of  this  force  should  be  organizations  at 
war  strength,  to  act  first  as  a  model  according 
to  which  the  reserve  air  organizations  could  be 
patterned;  second,  for  use  in  small  expeditionary 
'forces— for  instance  to  Cuba,  Mexico,  or  places 


202  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  that  kind;  third,  for  use  in  case  of  domestic 
disturbances;  and  fourth,  for  the  purpose  of 
training  commanders  and  staffs  for  all  the  air 
units.  The  whole  thing  should  be  known  as  the 
Air  Force,  and  the  personnel  should  be  assigned 
either  to  an  active  or  reserve  status. 

The  active  air  force  should  carry  out  its  peace- 
time military  instruction  in  combination  with  the 
Army  and  Navy,  and  also  in  maneuvers  to  bring 
out  its  own  special  work.  During  the  period  of 
the  year  in  which  it  was  not  engaged  in  this,  it 
could  be  used  for  mapping,  forest  patrol,  or  in 
any  way  to  assist  the  other  departments  of  the 
Government. 

The  reserve  air  force  should  be  organized 
definitely  into  squadrons,  groups,  brigades  and 
higher  units,  right  alongside  of  the  active  air 
force  units  permanently  in  the  service.  These 
units  should  have  a  small  proportion  of  their  per- 
sonnel constantly  on  duty  to  look  after  their 
property,  keep  their  airplanes  in  condition,  and 
attend  to  the  instruction  of  the  reserve  personnel. 
Each  reserve  pilot  should  be  required  to  fly  for 
an  hour  or  two  each  week,  and  turn  out  with  his 
organization  for  a  couple  of  weeks  during  the 
year.  There  will  be  no  trouble  at  all  in  main- 
taining an  air  force  on  a  voluntary  basis  by  this 
method  on  account  of  the  great  interest  which 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO     203 

the  American  people  take  in  aviation.  The  cost 
of  maintaining  a  force  of  this  kind  consequently 
would  be  cut  down  to  about  one-fifth  of  what 
would  be  necessary  for  a  regular  force.  In  fact 
with  a  combined  air  force  the  cost  would  hardly 
exceed  what  we  are  spending  now  for  aeronautics. 

All  the  civil  departments  of  the  Government 
which  require  aviation  for  their  own  uses  could 
either  employ  aviators  or  obtain  the  material 
from  the  Department  of  the  Air ;  but  in  any  case, 
the  aviators  should  be  reserve  officers,  and  the 
airplanes  suitable  for  military  purposes  so  that 
they  could  be  used  in  war.  For  instance  in  the  ad- 
mirable organization  and  work  contemplated  by 
the  Post  Office  Department,  the  Department  of 
Aeronautics  should  assist  them  in  obtaining  per- 
sonnel and  then  provide  the  material  that  is 
necessary  for  their  work — it  being  understood 
that  all  would  be  immediately  available  on  the 
outbreak  of  a  war.  They  should  be  left  the  entire 
direction  and  control  of  the  force  in  time  of  peace. 

Our  first  division  then  of  the  Department  of 
Aeronautics  will  be  an  Air  Force,  with  the  usual 
staffs  required  for  such  an  organization — that  is, 
an  Administration  Section,  which  would  handle 
all  the  correspondence,  records  of  personnel,  and 
$ee  that  the  methods  of  paper  work  and  admin- 
istration through  the  force  were  co-ordinated. 


204  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

Next,  a  Training  and  Operations  Section,  which 
should  make  up  all  war  plans  for  the  Air  Force, 
and  provide  methods  and  means  of  training  the 
personnel  to  meet  these  conditions. 

Third,  an  Equipment  Section  to  keep  track  of 
all  equipment  which  the  fighting  air  organizations 
have  with  them,  their  proper  feeding,  transporta- 
tion, clothing,  housing,  pay,  and  the  upkeep  of  the 
airdromes. 

Fourth,  a  Medical  Section,  which  would  see  to 
the  physical  well-being  of  all  the  Air  Force,  and 
the  education  and  handling  of  the  flight  surgeons. 

Fifth,  a  Legal  Section  that  would  attend  to 
all  courts-martial,  methods  of  discipline,  and  legal 
matters  pertaining  specifically  to  an  Air  Force. 

As  the  training  of  the  air  personnel  in  flying 
and  mechanics  is  common  to  every  use — whether 
it  be  with  the  Army,  the  Navy,  or  any  other  de- 
partment of  the  Government — the  primary  aero- 
nautical schools  should  be  the  same.  After  the 
fliers  are  graduated  from  the  primary  or  pilots' 
schools,  they  should  be  specialized  in  the  particu- 
lar kind  of  aviation  that  they  are  going  into. 
For  instance,  an  Air  Force  assigned  for  observa- 
tion purposes  to  the  Navy  should  have  its  special 
school,  and  an  Air  Force  assigned  to  the  Army 
should  have  its  special  school.  The  offensive 
units  of  aviation,  such  as  pursuit,  attack  and 


1 


£ 

^ 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO     205 


bombardment,  should  have  their  special  school? 
all  of  these  being  fed  from  the  common  air  force 
reserve,  which  could  shift  the  personnel  wherever 
the  greatest  loss  occurred.  For  instance,  in 
Europe,  when  the  Army  was  so  badly  in  need  of 
pilots  on  the  front,  during  the  most  severe  fight- 
ing, the  Navy  had  pilots  who  were  waiting  for 
their  airplanes  who  could  do  nothing  against  the 
enemy.  "With  an  Air  Force  organized  as  a  dis- 
tinct unit,  such  a  thing  would  be  impossible. 

All  of  the  Air  Force  should  be  organized  into 
appropriate  tactical  or  combatant  units,  such  as 
squadrons,  groups,  wings,  brigades,  and  divisions, 
each  with  their  appropriate  staffs  and  supply; 
elements. 

Besides  the  Air  Force  there  should  be  two 
main  divisions  under  the  Department  of  Aero- 
nautics— the  Supply  Division  and  the  Division  of 
flivil  Aeronautics. 

The  function  of  the  Supply  Division  would  be 
to  devise,  obtain,  store  and  issue  the  flying  equip- 
ment and  all  the  stores  that  the  Air  troops  re- 
quire. This  is  a  very  important  function.  Two 
things  are  always  necessary  in  a  military  organ- 
ization; one,  the  personnel,  and  the  other,  the 
equipment.  They  must  be  organized  into  a  team 
so  trained  that  they  will  drive  together;  but  in 
driving  together,  the  personnel  that  has  to  use 


206  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

the  equipment  must  be  the  part  of  the  service  that 
prescribes  what  it  shall  be.  Otherwise  the  troops 
will  not  get  what  they  require,  and  what  is 
needed  to  use  against  the  enemy.  Whenever  a 
bureau  or  department  is  organized  so  that  the 
troops  do  not  control  the  material  which  they  are 
to  get,  it  is  sure  to  end  in  disaster,  because  some 
good-for-nothing  thing  will  be  created  which  can- 
not and  will  not  function  properly  against  the 
enemy.  We  have  had  many  examples  of  this  in 
our  own  experience.  In  fact,  this  has  been  one 
of  the  most  potent  lessons  that  we  have  learned 
in  aviation.  This  is  the  principal  reason  why  a 
Department  of  Aeronautics,  created  merely  for 
the  purpose  of  producing  equipment,  and  not 
having  an  air  force  as  a  part  of  it,  would  never 
be  successful,  because  a  combatant  Air  Force 
would  be  unable  to  make  it  supply  the  equipment 
it  wanted.  This  has  been  the  result  of  the  experi- 
ence of  every  air  force.  The  Supply  Department 
should  be  headed  by  a  flying  officer  experienced 
in  this  very  important  duty;  and  should  be  sepa- 
rated into  the  following  sections:  An  Engineer- 
ing Section,  which  should  attend  to  all  the  tech- 
nical questions  involved  in  devising  and  construct- 
ing new  airplanes,  engines,  guns  and  cannon, 
cameras,  and  wireless  meteorological  equipment 
and  all  their  accessories,  exactly  as  the  troops 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO     207 

want  them.  They  should  always  have  on  hand 
models  and  complete  specifications  of  airplanes 
suitable  for  each  branch  of  aviation — pursuit, 
attack,  bombardment  and  observation,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  put  them  into  immediate  production  in 
case  of  war. 

Eight  alongside  of  the  Engineering  Section 
should  be  the  Procurement  Section,  which  should 
be  charged  with  the  construction  of  the  aero- 
nautical material  in  the  factories;  and  which,  in 
time  of  peace,  should  have  complete  data  on  where 
all  raw  materials  entering  into  the  construction 
of  airplanes  may  be  found,  how  long  it  would  take 
this  to  be  put  into  suitable  shape  to  be  manu- 
factured, what  factories  in  the  country  were 
capable  of  using  this  raw  material  so  as  to  build 
airplanes,  engines  and  their  accessories,  and  the 
the  tools,  jigs  and  dies  necessary  for  this  purpose. 
They  should  at  all  times  have  available  data 
which  would  show  how  many  airplanes,  and  of 
what  type,  can  be  built  in  a  certain  time;  how 
this  could  be  increased  or  decreased  so  as  to 
meet  the  necessities  of  a  campaign,  and  so  as  to 
accord  and  co-ordinate  with  the  construction  work 
required  for  other  activities  of  the  Government, 
such  as  the  Army,  the  Navy,  the  railroads,  or  any 
of  the  other  undertakings  which  have  to  work 
together  in  time  of  war.  The  Engineering  and 


208  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

Procurement  Sections  should  be  under  the  same 
general  head,  so  that  their  functions  could  be  co- 
ordinated; and  they  should  also  be  charged  with 
the  inspection  of  all  material  that  is  being  con- 
structed in  the  factories,  and  all  material  in  the 
hands  of  the  troops,  so  that  in  this  way  they  would 
be  forced  to  keep  in  touch  both  with  what  the 
air  troops  were  doing  and  what  the  means  of 
production  were  capable  of  creating. 

When  the  Procurement  Section  had  obtained 
the  material,  it  should  be  turned  over  to  the  Sec- 
tion charged  with  the  care  of  property,  and  be 
stored  in  the  depots.  Depots  should  be  at  stra- 
tegic centers  at  which  material  could  be  easily 
collected  from  the  factories,  and  from  which  it 
could  be  easily  sent  out  to  the  troops.  These 
depots  should  be  the  places  where  the  various 
parts  going  into  the  complete  airplane  would  be 
brought  together  and  assembled,  and  made  ready 
for  use.  The  depots  should  consist  o'f  supply 
sections,  repair  sections,  and  salvage  sections. 
All  equipment  sent  to  a  depot  would  go  through 
the  repair  section,  be  assembled,  repaired,  rebuilt, 
cleaned  and  fixed  up  as  would  be  necessary,  and 
would  be  put  into  the  supply  warehouse.  When 
it  came  out  of  the  supply  warehouse  for  issue, 
it  should  be  checked  by  the  repair  station  to  see 
that  it  was  in  fit  condition  to  turn  over  to  the 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO     209 

air  troops.  If  found  to  be  in  improper  condition, 
it  should  be  repaired  right  there ;  and  if  in  good 
shape,  it  should  be  checked  through  and  delivered 
to  the  troops  in  good  condition,  when  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  supply  depot  would  end. 

The  salvage  section  should  be  charged  with  the 
recovering  of  all  wrecks,  and  saving  of  all  parts 
which  could  be  used  in  the  future.  This  is  a 
very  important  matter  which  it  has  been  difficult 
to  organize  and  put  into  working  shape  in  the 
past,  with  the  consequent  loss  of  a  great  deal  of 
material  and  money. 

Another  section  of  the  supply  department 
should  have  to  do  with  finance,  drawing  of  proper 
contracts,  payment  of  obligations,  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  funds  throughout  the  Air  Force.  In 
this  way,  all  matters  relating  to  supply  of  air- 
planes, engines  for  them,  balloons,  dirigibles, 
armament,  signaling  and  communicating  devices, 
meteorology,  photographic  instruments,  trans- 
portation of  all  kinds,  housing  and  shelter,  and 
all  fiscal  methods  concerned  in  the  handling 
and  use  of  these  things,  would  be  co-ordinated. 
There  is  no  trouble  in  properly  organizing  a 
supply  department  for  aeronautical  needs,  and 
making  it  work.  The  difficulty  is  in  getting  the 
proper  personnel  to  handle  it.  Organization  is 
only  a  means  to  an  end.  It  is  not  the  end;  and 


210  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

no  matter  how  good  the  organization  may  be,  if 
well  instructed  personnel  is  not  put  in  it  to  handle 
it,  it  cannot  succeed. 

The  third  part  of  the  Department  of  Aero- 
nautics should  be  the  Division  of  Civil  Aero- 
nautics. The  main  object  of  this  department 
should  be  to  foster  the  development  of  commer- 
cial aviation,  by  establishing  and  making  available 
all  the  airways  and  airdromes  throughout  the 
country,  owned  by  the  Government,  for  the  use 
of  properly  licensed  airplanes;  to  give  advice  to 
those  desiring  to  enter  commercial  aviation  as 
to  what  costs  of  upkeep,  cost  of  maintenance,  and 
prices  charged  for  transportation  should  be ;  the 
dissemination  of  proper  data  relating  to  civil 
aeronautics  throughout  the  country ;  and  of  being 
charged  specifically  with  the  regulating  of  all  air 
traffic  from  an  interstate  and  international  stand- 
point. The  Division  of  Civil  Aeronautics  should 
have  a  Law  Section  under  it,  which  should  be 
charged  specifically  with  the  drawing  up  of 
projects  of  law  relating  to  control  of  air-borne 
commerce,  both  from  an  international  and  an  in- 
terstate standpoint;  the  licensing  of  pilots;  laws 
relating  to  license  and  inspection  of  aircraft  and 
their  accessories;  laws  for  navigation  in  the  air; 
and  for  denning  and  interpreting  the  laws  of 
other  countries  relating  to  civil  and  commercial 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO    211 

aviation.  The  United  States  at  this  time  lags 
way  behind  in  its  legal  handling  of  aeronautical 
matters.  No  commercial  company  can  go  into 
aviation  now,  and  be  sure  of  what  its  legal  rights 
are;  what  its  privileges  are;  where  it  is  tres- 
passing; whether,  in  case  of  a  forced  landing,  it 
is  liable  for  all  sorts  of  damages;  or  what  rights 
it  has  in  any  case  whatever.  Aircraft  have  been, 
and  still  are,  regulated  under  war-time  legislation, 
which,  of  course,  puts  everything  into  federal 
power.  This  will  soon  cease,  however;  and  good 
efficient  air  laws  are  necessary.  These  naturally 
must  be  federal  in  their  character,  otherwise 
every  State  will  have  a  special  rule  of  its  own, 
which  will  greatly  hinder  the  development  of 
aviation,  because  airplanes  due  to  their  speed  will 
be  able  to  cross  many  States  in  one  voyage. 

Next,  a  section  of  the  Division  of  Civil  Aero- 
nautics should  be  called  the  Air  Traffic  Section, 
and  under  it  should  be  the  civil  air  police  that 
would  attend  to  all  inspections  of  foreign  air- 
craft entering  our  domain;  seeing  that  they  did 
not  fly  over  restricted  areas;  that  they  confined 
themselves  to  the  prescribed  elevations  and  air- 
ways; that  they  landed  at  the  airdromes  pre- 
scribed; and  that  they  were  properly  equipped 
with  licenses,  safety  devices,  etc.  The  air  police, 
in  time  of  peace,  would  see  that  the  airways  are 


212  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

properly  used  by  traveling  aircraft;  that  un- 
authorized crossing  of  cities  by  certain  classes  of 
aircraft,  or  aircraft  at  low  altitudes,  is  prevented ; 
that  all  the  aids  to  navigation  both  for  day  and 
night  flying  are  in  place  and  kept  in  proper  cott- 
dition;  that  the  instructions  as  to  use  of  landing 
places  and  airdromes  are  strictly  complied  with; 
and  that  prompt  information  be  sent  back  about 
any  wrecks  that  might  occur  throughout  the  coun- 
try, so  that  the  crew  of  wrecked  aircraft  could 
be  assisted  and  helped  in  any  way  practicable. 

A  very  interesting  suggestion  has  been  made 
in  this  connection  by  Asst,  Postmaster  General 
Praeger,  that  the  boys  along  the  airways  be 
organized  into  "Aircraft  Troops/'  somewhat 
similar  to  the  Boy  Scouts;  and  that  these  boys' 
organizations  be  taught  what  the  different  kinds 
of  airplanes  are,  the  sound  of  the  motors,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  determine  whether  the  airplanes 
are  in  trouble  or  not,  what  to  do  in  case  an  air- 
plane is  wrecked,  how  to  administer  first  aid  to 
the  pilot  and  passengers,  how  to  report  promptly 
any  mishaps  that  occur,  and  how  to  guard  the 
airplane  and  its  contents  when  it  has  had  a  forced 
landing  and  is  in  need  of  care.  This  would  be 
an  interesting,  profitable  and  fascinating  educa- 
tion for  the  average  American  boy;  and  would 
result  in  a  great  deal  of  useful  aeronautical  in- 


Shipping  Anchored  in  the  James  River.    Easily  Sunk  and 
Destroyed  by  Aircraft 


One  of  Our  American  Ship-Yards.     An  Excellent  Bombardment 

Objective 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO     213 

formation  being  distributed,  which  would  help  in 
the  development  of  aviation.  In  short,  the  Air 
Traffic  Section  should  handle  everything  relating 
to  the  maintenance  and  control  of  civil  and  com- 
mercial aviation  throughout  the  country. 

The  next  section  under  the  Division  of  Civil 
Aeronautics  should  be  a  Civil  Air  Development 
Section;  that  is,  one  which  obtained  all  the  data 
relative  to  the  economical  use  of  aviation  in  com- 
mercial pursuits — what  it  cost  to  move  a  pound 
or  a  ton  of  certain  kinds  of  freight  or  express 
from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another,  what 
times  of  the  year  were  propitious  for  this  sort 
of  work  in  various  places,  where  the  equipment 
for  doing  the  work  could  be  obtained,  how  much 
it  would  take  to  maintain  it,  where  the  land- 
ing fields  would  be,  where  suitable  pilots  and 
mechanics  could  be  obtained ;  and  in  case  that  any 
company  desired  expert  opinion  on  the  effect  of 
a  certain  project  which  they  intended  to  go  into, 
that  they  could  be  assisted  by  this  department 
to  get  the  most  reliable  information  on  the  sub- 
ject. This  department  should  also  encourage  the 
formation  of  companies  for  commercial  aviation; 
and  wherever  they  saw  an  existing  organization 
that  could  benefit  by  use  of  aircraft,  to  tell  them 
how  these  could  be  used  to  the  greatest  advan- 
tage. They  should  report  promptly  the  operations 


214  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

of  all  commercial  aircraft  throughout  the  world, 
so  that  our  own  people  would  be  kept  constantly 
informed  from  a  reliable  source  of  just  what  was 
taking  place.  This  section  also  should  let  it  be 
known  what  facilities  the  Government  had  to  offer 
in  the  way  of  airdromes,  air  lanes,  and  materials 
and  spare  parts  for  the  various  kinds  of  air- 
planes at  the  airdromes  throughout  the  country. 
A  commercial  Air  Development  Section  should 
attend  to  all  the  publicity  necessary  in  the  Divi- 
sion of  Civil  Aeronautics. 

The  last  section  into  which  the  Division  of  Civil 
Aeronautics  should  be  divided  would  be  the 
Operations  Section.  To  this  should  be  referred 
all  the  requests  of  the  different  departments  of 
the  Government  that  desired  aviation  for  their 
specific  work,  whether  they  wanted  to  take  it  and 
operate  it  themselves — as  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment is  doing  now — and  if  so,  what  kind  of  air- 
planes and  equipment  they  desire,  and  what  sort 
of  pilots  and  mechanical  personnel.  These  men 
could  be  obtained  from  a  central  reservoir  and 
turned  over  to  the  department  for  their  use  as 
they  desired.  In  this  way,  general  Government 
inspection  would  be  applied  to  the  pilots,  so  that 
competent  men  would  be  obtained  who  had 
passed  the  Government  examination,  and  the  air- 
planes and  material  would  have  passed  the  in- 


WHAT  UNITED  STATES  SHOULD  DO     215 

spection  of  the  Technical  Section  for  the  par- 
ticular use  to  which  they  were  to  be  put.  In  this 
way  the  greatest  safeguards  on  delivering  efficient 
personnel  and  material  would  be  insured.  In  case 
the  Geological  Survey  needed  personnel  and 
equipment  for  mapping,  or  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  required  certain  forest  patrols  or  the 
expansion  of  forest  patrols,  the  Operations  Sec- 
tion would  make  all  the  arrangements  ahead  of 
time  for  obtaining  exactly  what  these  organiza- 
tions desired,  and  see  that  they  were  ready  at 
the  proper  time  and  place.  If  operations  in  the 
civil  departments  of  the  Government  are  not 
co-ordinated  by  an  agency  of  this  kind,  each  one 
will  have  its  own  complete  organization,  with  the 
incident  overhead  for  carrying  this  into  effect, 
which  of  course  is  a  very  expensive  and  uneco- 
nomical manner  of  doing  this  work. 

The  Division  of  Civil  Aeronautics,  then,  should 
have  four  sections,  namely:  Law  Section,  Air 
Traffic  Section,  Commercial  Air  Development  Sec- 
tion, and  Operations  Section. 

For  the  formation  of  any  new  department,  ex- 
perience is  the  surest  guide  to  its  proper  organiza- 
tion; and  in  suggesting  the  matters  that  I  have 
mentioned  above,  the  experience  that  we  have 
obtained  so  far,  and  that  of  all  the  European 
countries,  has  been  taken  into  consideration. 


216  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

Such  an  organization  applied  to  the  aeronautics 
of  the  United  States  would  allow  30  or  40  per  cent 
more  to  be  done  with  a  given  amount  of  money 
than  is  the  case  at  present,  where  very  much  the 
same  duty  is  being  done  by  the  Army  and  Navy, 
by  the  Post  Office  Department,  and  by  other  de- 
partments of  the  Government  that  intend  to  use 
aviation  in  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
A  GLANCE  INTO  THE  FUTURE  OF  AERONAUTICS 

IN  the  development  of  aeronautics,  one  has  to 
be  careful  that  the  imagination  does  not  run  into 
unpractical  channels  when  a  question  so  un- 
limited as  aviation  is  considered.  Each  thing  in 
the  development  of  aviation  should  be  proved  to 
a  sufficient  extent  to  warrant  the  entrance  of  the 
Government  into  it  before  it  is  attempted.  The 
development  of  aviation,  however,  since  the  first 
flights  of  the  Wright  Brothers  at  Ft.  Myer,  Va., 
to  the  present,  has  been  much  more  rapid  and 
practical  than  in  the  time  required  for  a  corre- 
sponding development  of  steam  engines  and 
electricity,  automobiles,  the  telephone  and  tele- 
graph, or  wireless  telegraphy.  Even  with  the 
instruments  that  we  now  have  for  navigating  the 
air,  and  with  proper  arrangement  of  facilities 
as  mentioned  in  this  book,  not  only  can  military 
protection  from  attack  be  obtained,  but  a  greaf 
use  from  a  civil  and  commercial  standpoint. 

217 


218  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

Looking  into  the  not  very  distant  future,  we 
can  see  the  organization  of  our  aeronautical  re- 
sources so  disposed  that  the  minute  war  starts, 
our  airships  can  cross  the  Atlantic  Ocean  within 
thirty-six  hours,  keep  the  whole  area  under  ob- 
servation, and  report  anything  that  comes  across 
it.  They  will  be  able  to  cross  the  Pacific  in 
seventy-five  hours  or  less,  and  do  the  same  thing 
in  that  area.  Fogs,  rains  and  storms  will  not 
impede  them,  and  they  will  be  in  constant  com- 
munication with  their  own  country  by  radio 
telegraphy.  Airship  stations  can  be  provided  in 
Alaska,  Panama,  Hawaii,  Guam  and  the  Philip- 
pines, which  will  give  a  splendid  back-bone  for 
airship  communication  in  that  direction  to  Asia 
and  Australia.  Our  own  country  will  be  organ- 
ized for  air  travel,  in  time  of  peace,  in  very  much 
the  same  way  that  the  automobile  roads  are  laid 
out  at  the  present  time;  that  is,  we  get  an 
American  Automobile  Association  Map  and  it 
shows  a  red  road,  or  a  yellow  road,  or  a  white 
road,  leading  to  a  certain  place.  All  that  one 
has  to  do  is  to  follow  these  marks,  which  are 
usually  painted  on  the  telegraph  poles,  and  a 
map  is  unnecessary.  Airways  will  be  organized 
in  a  similar  manner  for  airplanes,  and  the  tops 
of  buildings,  railroad  stations,  fences — and  where 
these  do  not  exist,  as  on  the  prairies,  rocks — 


A  GLANCE  INTO  THE  FUTURE    219 

painted  different  colors,  or  other  marks  will  guide 
the  airplane  unerringly  from  one  point  to  another. 
Storm  warnings  will  be  given  to  them  by  wireless 
telegraphy;  and  in  case  their  contemplated  land- 
ing place  is  covered  by  fog  or  storm,  they  will 
be  able  to  go  to  another  which  is  clear.  To-day 
if  a  road,  or  even  a  cleared  and  smoothed  out 
place  200  feet  broad,  were  built  from  New  York 
to  San  Francisco,  with  a  white  line  along  each 
side  of  it,  airplanes  could  fly  from  New  York  to 
San  Francisco  and  land  any  time  they  desired; 
and  there  would  practically  be  no  accidents  even 
now.  While,  of  course,  this  is  impracticable,  still 
facilities  can  be  made  for  landing  every  100  miles 
or  so,  and  all  suitable  fields  marked,  so  that  the 
aviators  will  know  where  they  can  get  down 
safely  in  case  of  trouble.  This  organization  of 
airways  is  not  very  far  away  in  the  future. 
Under  these  conditions,  an  Air  Service  organized 
with  well-balanced  units  of  Pursuit,  Attack  and 
Bombardment  Aviation,  among  the  civil  popu- 
lation as  reserve  organizations,  and  having  their 
equipment  constantly  at  their  airdromes,  could 
be  mobilized  in  a  maximum  time  of  two  or  three 
days.  They  will  be  able  to  cross  the  whole  United 
States  from  east  to  west  in  a  maximum  of  36 
hours'  time;  and  assemble  at  a  threatened  point 
in  a  manner  undreamed  of  even  at  present.  The 


220  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

airplanes  will  be  able  to  float  on  the  water  as 
easily  as  they  land  on  land ;  and  they  will  be  able 
to  attack  hostile  aircraft  or  their  aircraft  car- 
riers 200  miles  at  sea,  so  as  to  keep  the  enemy 
completely  away  from  our  coast.  No  navy  will 
/  be  able  to  exist  against  air  attack  unless  it  ob- 
tains an  absolute  air  decision  beforehand;  and, 
as  an  Air  Service  will  eventually  be  able  to  sink 
any  warship,  there  will  be  no  use  in  maintaining 
these  expensive  instruments  for  national  defense. 
When  warships  are  driven  off  the  surface  of  the 
sea,  they  will  go  under  the  surface ;  and  in  order 
to  maintain  themselves  under  the  surface,  they 
will  have  to  armor  themselves  to  such  an  extent 
that  again  their  usefulness  will  be  limited  on  ac- 
count of  their  weight.  They  will  not  be  able  to 
go  fast,  and  will  be  very  restricted  in  their  field 
of  operations.  They  will  also  be  very  expensive. 
It,  therefore,  appears  that  aviation  will  cause  the 
abolition  of  all  armored  ships,  either  surface  or 
sub-surface;  will  cut  down  the  size  and  weight 
of  armament  that  is  carried  on  all  shipping;  and 
will  cause  the  surface  ships  to  be  used  entirely 
as  cargo  carriers  whose  military  protection  will 
be  furnished  from  the  air. 

In  case  an  offensive  war  is  necessary,  the  air 
organizations  will  fly  across  the  water  to  their 
destinations,  and  be  supplied  by  airships  without 


1 


s 

I 


A  GLANCE  INTO  THE  FUTURE    221 

any  recourse  to  communications  on  the  ground 
or  on  the  water.    They  will  be  able  to  force  a 
landing  in  a  hostile  country  through  their  own 
power,  protect  it  and  transport  enough  personnel 
there  to  defend  the  position,  and  maintain  their 
own  aircraft.    No  part  of  the  country  will  be 
immune  from  attack  to  the  nation  having  control 
of  the  air,  as  no  frontiers  exist  for  air  forces, 
the  air  being  the  same  the  world  over.    The  cost 
of  maintaining  a  force  of  this  kind,  as  compared 
to  a  navy  or  an  army,  will  be  very  much  less; 
and  the  number  of  men  that  will  have  to  be  re- 
moved   from    useful    commercial    pursuits    will 
amount  to  very  little — even  with  the  greatest  air 
force  which  we  can  conceive  at  the  present  time, 
not  one-twentieth  as  many  would  be  necessary 
as  for  an  army,  and  less  than  one-fourth  of  what 
would  be  necessary  for  a  large  navy.    A  navy 
cannot  work  on  land;  an  army  cannot  work  on 
the  water;  an  air  service  can  work  over  both. 
In  time  of  peace,  the  same  airways  can  be  used 
for  our  civil  and  commercial  aviation  that  are 
used  by  the  military  aviation  in  time  of  war.    In 
fact  the  civil  and  commercial  aviation  can  be 
almost   entirely  transformed  into   the   military 
aviation   in  no   time.     The   passenger-carrying 
airships  will  be  able  to  take  one  or  more  hundred 
passengers  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in 


222  OUR  AIR  FORCE 

thirty-six  hours ;  will  be  able  to  go  to  Europe  in 
about  the  same  time;  and  able  to  go  from  San 
Francisco  to  Asia  in  about  twice  that  time.  A 
flight  from  New  York  to  South  America  by  air- 
ship will  require  only  about  four  days,  where  it 
now  requires  four  weeks;  and  no  parts  of  the 
mountains,  forests,  or  deserts  will  be  inaccessible 
to  airship  travel.  Shipments  of  ore  from  inac- 
cessible mines  will  be  facilitated.  Machinery  and 
other  implements  will  be  landed  where  it  is  im- 
possible at  the  present  time,  and  supplies  of  all 
kinds  delivered  for  their  upkeep.  The  airplanes, 
on  their  part,  will  map  the  whole  country  within 
three  years  after  they  start;  whereas  only  40 
per  cent  has  been  mapped  during  all  our  ex- 
istence. Every  department  of  the  Government 
will  use  them  in  the  execution  of  some  part  of 
its  work;  the  forests  will  be  guarded  from  fire 
and  destruction  by  the  airplanes;  the  game  and 
fish  laws  will  be  enforced  by  them;  studies  will 
be  made  of  all  the  rivers  and  coast  lines,  harbor 
improvements,  architectural  studies  in  cities, 
laying  out  of  park  systems,  and  of  innumerable 
municipal  improvements.  Airplanes  will  carry 
passengers  to  Europe  in  from  six  to  ten  hours 
from  New  York;  and  important  dispatches  and 
documents  will  be  sent  in  a  similar  manner.  The 
development  of  aeronautics  is  infinite.  While  it 


A  GLANCE  INTO  THE  FUTURE    223 

is  still  expensive  and  somewhat  dangerous,  this 
is  being  overcome  every  day;  and  it  is  increas- 
ingly evident  that  the  future  national  defense, 
future  predominance  in  commerce,  and  the  future 
economical  development  of  a  country  lie  in  the  air. 


THE    END. 


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